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Why we use Hail as a greeting phrase and under blót.
Hail is an old greeting word from the Old Swedish word hæll (edit: not to be confused with the Old Swedish word heel which was later also spelled hell in swedish before it became häl (english heel); foot part).
It is also a bi-form of the word hēl which means whole, whole-born etc and which later became the Icelandic word heill.
For example, when we say ‘Hail to you’ it is like the Danish hil dir. It then means something like ‘be greeted’. But as an adjective, the word hæl also means happiness and health.
So you can compare our hell with the two Latin colloquial greetings salvē which comes from the word salvus and which means healthy, whole and the word ave which was a Roman colloquial greeting and which means hail. This word was later also mostly used in (Christian) religious contexts.
But in older times it was a greeting phrase synonymous with good day etc.
Because there were no words corresponding to the later greetings good morning/good day/good evening until around the middle of the Middle Ages.
And it took even longer, until the 19th century, for the swedish Götiska Förbundet to start using our word ‘hej’ (english: hello) as a greeting phrase here. But the word hej comes from the Old Swedish hei and is found in texts such as hey/hei/häy etc. from the 16th century, but then with a completely different meaning: it was an expression of cheerfulness and joy, much like the word hurrah, but it was also an expression of protest, pain etc.
So the use of the word hail changed in the Middle Ages like many other words and then only came to be used more reverently in mainly biblical, poetic or ceremonial contexts and in relation to royalty. But its original meaning was as a greeting phrase, in both Germanic languages and in the Latin language.
Hail is mentioned on several occasions in our ancient writings. For example:
Hávamál:
2 Hail, ye Givers! a guest is come;
say! where shall he sit within?
Much pressed is he who fain on the hearth
would seek for warmth and weal.
Sigrdrífumál – The Lay of Sigrdrifa
3. “Hail, day! Hail, sons of day!
Hail Natt and her daughter now!
Look on us here with loving eyes,
That waiting we victory win.
4. “Hail to the gods! Ye goddesses, Hail,
Hail to you, gracious Jörd!
Give to us wisdom and goodly speech,
And healing hands, life-long.
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