An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Halde

by Friedrich Kluge

Halde, feminine, ‘precipice, declivity, slope,’ from Middle High German halde, Old High German halda, feminine, ‘mountain declivity.’ Old Icelandic hallr, ‘hill, slope,’ caorresponds both to the High German word and to Gothic hallus, Anglo-Saxon heall, which are translations of ‘petra’; see Holm. These may be further related to High German Halde, which, however, is more closely connected with Gothic *halþs, ‘inclined’; compare Anglo-Saxon heald, Old Icelandic hallr, Old High German hald, adjective, ‘overhanging, inclined’; yet the dental in these words may be a suffix. If Gothic hallus, ‘rock,’ were allied, Old Icelandic hváll, hóll (Gothic *hwêlus), masculine, ‘hill,’ might be compared, as well as Anglo-Saxon hyll, English hill. For an Aryan root kel, ‘to rise,’ compare Latin celsus, collis, and Lithuanian kalnas, ‘hill.’