Etymology

This interj. is a formulaic greeting, deriving from a verbal phrase formed from the imperative of the common Gmc v. *wesan- 'to be' (cp. Go wisan, OE, OS, OHG wesan, OFris wesa, OIcel vera) + the ON reflex of the adj. *xaila-, cp. OIcel heill 'hale, sound; whole, healed, etc.' (cp. OE hāl ‘healthy, whole’, Go hails 'healthy', OFris, OS hēl 'unhurt, OHG heil 'whole, healthy, unscathed').

PGmc Ancestor

*wesan- + *xaila-

Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)

heill (adj.) 'hale, sound; whole, healed, etc.'
(ONP heill (3) (adj.))

Other Scandinavian Reflexes

Far heilur, Icel heill, Norw heil, Dan hel, Sw hel

OE Cognate

hāl ‘healthy, whole’ (etc.), cp. wes (þū) hāl 'be in health'

Phonological and morphological markers

ON /ei/ < PGmc */ai/

Summary category

A1*

Attestation

MED and OED's first attestations of the interj. are from the early 12c. (see OED for discussion of the context), and it occurs in a variety of ME texts. On a possible earlier instance, see Dance 2003: 190n.

Occurrences in the Gersum Corpus

Cl 1506

Bibliography

MED wassail (n.) , OED wassail (n.) , HTOED , EDD wassail (sb. and v.), Bj. 44, de Vries heill (2), Mag. heill (2), Bj-L. heil, Heid. haila-, Orel *xailaz (II), Kroonen *haila-, AEW hāl, hǣl, DOE hāl