heill

Heill is a term found in Germanic-language contexts with several related uses. It is most widely attested in Old Norse and its descendant Icelandic, where it functions as an adjective meaning “sound, healthy, whole” and occurs in idioms and compounds referring to wellbeing and safety. The form is a cognate of English hale and German heil, all tracing back to Proto-Germanic *hailaz, meaning health or salvation.

In Old Norse and Icelandic texts, heill appears in phrases such as heill ok sæll, meaning roughly “well and prosperous” or “sound and blessed.” In modern Icelandic, the word persists in historical or ceremonial language and in fixed expressions, but it is not commonly used as a general predicate in everyday speech.

As a surname, Heill is rare but documented in some Scandinavian and diaspora records. It may appear as a family name or as a reduced form of longer compound surnames, and it has limited but enduring presence in genealogical sources.

In linguistics and onomastics, heill is cited as evidence of the Germanic root related to health and safety terms across languages, illustrating how core concepts of wellbeing have persisted and diversified in the linguistic family.

See also: hale; Heil; health; heath or health-related terms in Germanic languages.