halge

Middle English

Adjective

halge

1. (chiefly Early Middle English) Alternative form of holy (sacred)

Old English

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *hailagā.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈxɑːl.je/, [ˈhɑːɫ.je]

Noun

hālġe f

1. holy woman, (female) saint
   • Cynewulf, "Juliana"

     Sēo hālġe stōd unġewemde wlite. Næs hire feax ne fell fȳre ġemǣled.

     The saint stood with unblemished beauty. Neither her hair nor her skin were marked by the fire.

Usage notes

• The table below shows the inherited distribution of g, with palatalization between original front vowels. At the time palatalization occurred, the nominative singular would been *hālægǣ [ˈhɑː.læ.ɣæː], with a medial *æ that was later syncopated creating the environment for palatalization. Meanwhile, the genitive plural would have been *hālægōnā [ˈhɑː.læ.ɣoː.nɑː]—or possibly *hālæganā [ˈhɑː.læ.ɣɑ.nɑː], with the short *a already leveled in from the masculine n-stem declension. In either case, the genitive plural would not have been palatalized.

Declension

Weak:

	singular	plural
nominative	hālġe	hālgan
accusative	hālgan	hālgan
genitive	hālgan	hālgena
dative	hālgan	hālgum

Coordinate terms

• hālga