holt

holt · noun¹

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*kelh₂-
2. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*kald-
3. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*hultą“wood”
4. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*holt
5. Old English · inherited fromholt“forest, wood, grove, thicket; wood, timber”
6. Middle English · inherited fromholt
7. English todayholt

From Middle English holt, from Old English holt (“forest, wood, grove, thicket; wood, timber”), from Proto-West Germanic *holt, from Proto-Germanic *hultą (“wood”), from Proto-Indo-European *kald-, *klād- (“timber, log”), perhaps corresponding to a root noun *kél(h₂)d ~ *kól(h₂)d ~ *kl̥(h₂)d- (literally “chopped (wood)”), from Proto-Indo-European *kelh₂-, *kleh₂- (“to beat, hew, break, destroy, kill”). Cognate with Scots holt (“a wood, copse, thicket”), North Frisian holt (“wood, timber”), West Frisian hout (“timber, wood”), Dutch hout (“wood, timber”), German Holz (“wood”), Icelandic holt (“woodland, hillock”), Old Irish caill (“forest, wood, woodland”), Ancient Greek κλάδος (kládos, “branch, shoot, twig”), Slovene kol (“stake”), Albanian shul (“door latch”). Doublet of hout. See also clade and cladus, possible doublets via Proto-Indo-European.

Holt · proper noun²

English, Dutch, north German, Norwegian and Danish surname, all from the noun holt (“copse, woodland”).

Words from the same roots