{"id":4307,"date":"2026-01-24T14:27:25","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T14:27:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/?p=4307"},"modified":"2026-01-24T16:07:02","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T16:07:02","slug":"adventures-in-etymology-wholesome-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/?p=4307","title":{"rendered":"Adventures in Etymology &#8211; Wholesome Health"},"content":{"rendered":"<div itemscope itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/AudioObject\"><meta itemprop=\"name\" content=\"Adventures in Etymology &amp;#8211; Wholesome Health\" \/><meta itemprop=\"uploadDate\" content=\"2026-01-24T14:27:25+00:00\" \/><meta itemprop=\"encodingFormat\" content=\"audio\/mpeg\" \/><meta itemprop=\"duration\" content=\"PT1M51S\" \/><meta itemprop=\"description\" content=\"In this Adventure in Etymology we examine the origins of the word health and related things.\n\n\n\nMeanings of health [h\u025bl\u03b8] include:\n\n The state of being free from physical or psychological disease, illness, or malfunction.\n A state of well-being or ba...\" \/><meta itemprop=\"contentUrl\" content=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/wholesomehealth.mp3\" \/><meta itemprop=\"contentSize\" content=\"2.0\" \/><div class=\"powerpress_player\" id=\"powerpress_player_9780\"><audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-4307-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/wholesomehealth.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/wholesomehealth.mp3\">https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/wholesomehealth.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div><\/div><p class=\"powerpress_links powerpress_links_mp3\" style=\"margin-bottom: 1px !important;\">Podcast: <a href=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/wholesomehealth.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_pinw\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Play in new window\" onclick=\"return powerpress_pinw('https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/?powerpress_pinw=4307-podcast');\" rel=\"nofollow\">Play in new window<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/wholesomehealth.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_d\" title=\"Download\" rel=\"nofollow\" download=\"wholesomehealth.mp3\">Download<\/a><\/p><p>In this Adventure in Etymology we examine the origins of the word <strong>health<\/strong> and related things.<\/p>\n<p><a data-flickr-embed=\"true\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/cups\/52019378531\/in\/photolist-4KCYhf-yi2cG1-ze1ihA-ze1kR3-eEJGh3-aa5X33-98Kb9T-zcw74M-27bgt6b-Zx2bfM-UX3Leb-9Tc14-AvDCGk-6TwQWa-AvDCSk-yiaA5F-6wMTfk-yi29rd-2nfLUUK-hBJrS2-6TAS9W-5x4K19-aa38K8-27bguCj-2iRE2oD-4UUNaD-2jx5QNY-6TwQTz-2otBM83-2q2ZFi2-2pinTLc-28QAM5s-aa38KK-3YKxG-BE8DNq-27wS32o-pkP5j1-29W7sNM-29W7sr4-28QALLS-9BbHeN-7KWpRQ-28QALry-28y8kZ8-KmP4v-28QALe9-aa5X6f-kV9YBf-aNTFYt-6LDrKS\" title=\"Healthy no QR\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52019378531_82f6af83fe_z.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" alt=\"Healthy no QR\"\/><\/a><script async src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Meanings of <strong>health<\/strong> [h\u025bl\u03b8] include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The state of being free from physical or psychological disease, illness, or malfunction.<\/li>\n<li>A state of well-being or balance, often physical but sometimes also mental and social.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>It comes from Middle English <em>helthe<\/em> [\u02c8h\u025bl\u03b8(\u0259)] (soundness, health, recovery, remedy), from Old English <em>h\u01e3l\u00fe<\/em> [x\u00e6\u02d0l\u03b8] (health, healing, cure), from Proto-Germanic <em>*haili\u00fe\u014d<\/em> [\u02c8x\u0251i\u032f.li.\u03b8\u0254\u02d0] (wholeness, health), from <em>*hailaz<\/em> [\u02c8x\u0251i\u032f.l\u0251z] (whole, intact, entire, healthy), from PIE <em>*k\u00e9h\u2082ilos<\/em> (healthy, whole) [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/health#English\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p>Words from the same roots include <strong>heal<\/strong>, <strong>whole<\/strong>, <strong>wholesome<\/strong>, <strong>holy<\/strong> and <strong>hale<\/strong> in English, <strong>heel<\/strong> [\u0266e\u02d0l] (complete, full, whole, very) in Dutch, <strong>hele<\/strong> (to heal) in Danish, <strong>\u0446\u0435\u043b\u044f<\/strong> [ts\u025b\u02c8l\u02b2a\u031f] (to heal, cure) in Bulgarian, <strong>ca\u0142y<\/strong> [\u02c8tsa.w\u0258] (whole, complete, entire) in Polish [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European\/k%C3%A9h%E2%82%82ilos\">source<\/a>]. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Health<\/strong> should not be confused with <strong>health<\/strong>, an obsolete English word meaning a warrior, hero or man, which comes from Proto-Germanic <em>*hali\u00feaz<\/em> [\u02c8x\u0251.li.\u03b8\u0251z] (hero), and is related to words such as <strong>Held<\/strong> [h\u025blt] (hero, protagonist) in German, <strong>held<\/strong> [\u0266\u025blt] (hero) in Dutch, and <strong>hj\u00e4lte<\/strong> [\u02c8j\u025bl\u02cct\u025b] (hero, main male protagonist in a work of fiction) in Swedish [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/health#Etymology_2\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p>If you would like to support this podcast, you can make a donation via <a href=\"https:\/\/www.paypal.com\/uk\/cgi-bin\/webscr?cmd=_flow&amp;SESSION=aLjPfXL-vP_1gQ_U23Iz8_hSWLlhzLHPMFZrt32dIEfG8htoNFLYaPoWkv8&amp;dispatch=5885d80a13c0db1f8e263663d3faee8def8934b92a630e40b7fef61ab7e9fe63\">PayPal<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/omniglot\">Patreon<\/a>, or <a href=\"http:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/donations.htm\">contribute to Omniglot in other ways<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Radio Omniglot podcasts are brought to you in association with <a href=\"https:\/\/blubrry.com\/services\/podcast-hosting\/?code=omniglot\">Blubrry Podcast Hosting<\/a>, a great place to host your podcasts. Get your first month free with the promo code <strong>omniglot<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.japanesepod101.com\/member\/go.php?r=759259&amp;i=b0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/images\/banners\/banner_japanesepod.jpg\" alt=\"The Fastest Way to Learn Japanese Guaranteed with JapanesePod101.com\" width=\"630\" height=\"83\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I also write about words, etymology and other language-related topics on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/\">Omniglot Blog<\/a>, and I explore etymological connections between Celtic languages on the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/celtiadur\/\">Celtiadur<\/a> blog.<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-5001128073855040\"\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><br \/>\n<!-- Blog horizontal --><br \/>\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\n     style=\"display:block\"\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-5001128073855040\"\n     data-ad-slot=\"1685480124\"\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins><br \/>\n<script>\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\n<\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div itemscope itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/AudioObject\"><meta itemprop=\"name\" content=\"Adventures in Etymology &amp;#8211; Wholesome Health\" \/><meta itemprop=\"uploadDate\" content=\"2026-01-24T14:27:25+00:00\" \/><meta itemprop=\"encodingFormat\" content=\"audio\/mpeg\" \/><meta itemprop=\"duration\" content=\"PT1M51S\" \/><meta itemprop=\"description\" content=\"In this Adventure in Etymology we examine the origins of the word health and related things.\n\n\n\nMeanings of health [h\u025bl\u03b8] include:\n\n The state of being free from physical or psychological disease, illness, or malfunction.\n A state of well-being or ba...\" \/><meta itemprop=\"contentUrl\" content=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/wholesomehealth.mp3\" \/><meta itemprop=\"contentSize\" content=\"2.0\" \/><div class=\"powerpress_player\" id=\"powerpress_player_9781\"><audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-4307-2\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/wholesomehealth.mp3?_=2\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/wholesomehealth.mp3\">https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/wholesomehealth.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div><\/div><p class=\"powerpress_links powerpress_links_mp3\" style=\"margin-bottom: 1px !important;\">Podcast: <a href=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/wholesomehealth.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_pinw\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Play in new window\" onclick=\"return powerpress_pinw('https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/?powerpress_pinw=4307-podcast');\" rel=\"nofollow\">Play in new window<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/wholesomehealth.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_d\" title=\"Download\" rel=\"nofollow\" download=\"wholesomehealth.mp3\">Download<\/a><\/p><p>In this Adventure in Etymology we examine the origins of the word health and related things. Meanings of health [h\u025bl\u03b8] include: The state of being free from physical or psychological disease, illness, or malfunction. A state of well-being or balance, often physical but sometimes also mental and social. It comes from Middle English helthe [\u02c8h\u025bl\u03b8(\u0259)] [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[98,121,31,47,20,56,24,4,58,11,55,1,63,57,59,30],"tags":[90,375,376,374,9,167,15,88,8,377,103],"class_list":["post-4307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adventures-in-etymology","category-bulgarian-","category-danish","category-dutch","category-english","category-etymology","category-german","category-language","category-middle-english","category-music","category-old-english-aenglisc","category-podcast","category-polish-polski","category-proto-germanic","category-proto-indo-european","category-swedish","tag-etymology","tag-hale","tag-heal","tag-health","tag-language","tag-linguistics","tag-music","tag-omniglot","tag-podcast","tag-wholesome","tag-words"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4307","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4307"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4307\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4312,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4307\/revisions\/4312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}