Etymology
1. O.E.
haldan (Anglian),
healdan (W.Saxon), class VII strong verb (past tense
heold, pp.
healden), from P.Gmc.
*khaldanan (cf. O.N.
halda, Du.
houden, Ger.
halten "to hold," Goth.
haldan "to tend"), originally "to keep, tend, watch over" (as cattle), later "to have." Ancestral sense is preserved in
behold. Holdup, in sense of "a stoppage," is 1837 in Amer.Eng.; sense of "stopping by force and robbing" is 1851, also in Amer.Eng., probably strengthened by notion of "holding up hands." To
hold (one's) own is from c.1330.
No holds barred "with all restrictions removed" is first recorded 1942 in theater jargon but is ultimately from wrestling. Phrase
hold your horses "be patient" is from 1844.
Hold out (v.) is from 1907. The original pp.
holden was replaced by
held beginning 16c., but survives in some legal jargon and in
beholden.
2. Etymology tree
3. Proto-Germanic *haldaną
4. Proto-West Germanic *haldan
5. Old English healdan
6. Middle English holden
7. English hold
8. Derived from Middle English holden, derived from Old English healdan, derived from Proto-West Germanic *haldan, derived from Proto-Germanic *haldaną (“to tend, herd”), maybe derived from Proto-Indo-European *kel- (“to drive”). Doublet of halt.
9. Cognates
10. *West Frisian hâlde
11. *Low German holden, holen
12. *Dutch houden
13. *German halten
14. *Danish
15. *Norwegian Bokmål holde
16. *Norwegian Nynorsk halda.
17. Compare Latin celer (“quick”), Tocharian B käl- (“to goad, drive”), Ancient Greek κέλλω (kéllō, “to drive”), Sanskrit कलयति (kalayati, “to impel”). See: Middle English '
holden', Old English '
healdan', Proto-Germanic '
*haldaną', Low Saxon 'holden', Dutch '
houden', German, old spelling '
halten', Norwegian '
holde', Norwegian, nynorsk '
halda', Sanskrit '
कलयति'.
Verbs referencing "hold"
Norwegian, nynorsk
halda, Luxembourgish
halen, German, old spelling
halten, Cimbrian haltan, Danish
holde, Norwegian
holde, Sranan
hori, Frisian, Saterlandic hoolde, Sanskrit
कलयति, Sanskrit
कालयति.