eighth letter of the alphabet; it comes from Phoenician, via Greek and Latin. In Phoenician it originally had a rough guttural sound like German Reich or Scottish loch. In Greek at first it had the value of Modern English -h-, and with this value it passed into the Latin alphabet via Greek colonies in Italy. Subsequently in Greek it came to be used for a long "e" sound; the "h" sound being indicated by a fragment of the letter, which later was reduced to the aspiration mark.

In Germanic it was used for the voiceless breath sound when at the beginning of words, and in the middle or at the end of words for the rough guttural sound, which later came to be written -gh.

The sound became totally silent in Vulgar Latin and in the languages that emerged from it; thus the letter was omitted in Old French and Italian, but it was restored pedantically in French and Middle English spelling, and often later in English pronunciation.

Thus Modern English has words ultimately from Latin with missing -h- (able, from Latin habile); with a silent -h- (heir, hour); with a formerly silent -h- now often vocalized (humble, humor, horizon, herb); and even a few with an unetymological -h- fitted in confusion to words that never had one (hostage, hermit). Relics of the formerly unvoiced -h- persist in pedantic insistence on an historical (object) and in obsolete mine host.

The pronunciation "aitch" was in Old French (ache "name of the letter H"), and is from a presumed Late Latin *accha (compare Italian effe, elle, emme), with the central sound approximating the rough, guttural value of the letter in Germanic. In earlier Latin the letter was called ha. The use in digraphs (as in -sh-, -th-) goes back to the ancient Greek alphabet, which used it in -ph-, -th-, -kh- until -H- took on the value of a long "e" and the digraphs acquired their own characters. The letter passed into Roman use before this evolution, and thus retained there more of its original Semitic value.

god of the dead in Greek mythology; also the name of his realm, the abode of the dead spirits, 1590s, from Greek Haidēs, in Homer the name of the god of the underworld, son of Kronos and Rhea, brother of Zeus and Poseidon. His name is of unknown origin. Perhaps literally "the invisible" [Watkins], from privative prefix a- + idein "to see" (from PIE root *weid- "to see"). The name of the god was extended in later Greek writing to his kingdom, also "the grave, death." Related: Hadal (adj.), 1964; Hadean.

The dead seem all alive in the humane Hades of Homer, yet cannot well speak, prophesie, or know the living, except they drink blood, wherein is the life of man. And therefore the souls of Penelope's Paramours conducted by Mercury chiriped like bats, and those which followed Hercules made a noise but like a flock of birds. [Browne, "Urn-Burial," 1658]

from Arawak haiti "land of mountains," and probably originally the name of the whole island. Related: Haitian.

also Hakim, masculine proper name, from Arabic hakim "wise," as a noun "physician; philosopher; governor," from stem of hakuma "he was wise;" whence also hakam "judge," hikmah "wisdom, science."

1931, proper German name for the Nazi swastika (q.v.), literally "hook-cross," from Old High German hako "hook," from Proto-Germanic *hoka-, from PIE root *keg- "hook, tooth."

place in West Yorkshire, late 11c., from Old English halh "secluded spot, nook of land" (cognate with Old English holh "hole, cavity") + feax "rough grass," literally "hair" (from Proto-Germanic *fahsan). In popular expressions coupled with Hull and Hell at least since 1620s. "In the 16th cent. the name was wrongly interpreted as OE halig-feax, 'holy hair', and a story invented of a maiden killed by a lustful priest whose advances she refused." [Victor Watts, "English Place-Names"]

also Hallow-e'en, Hallow e'en, "last night of October (the eve of All Saints Day) as a popular holiday," 1781, in a Scottish context, a Scottish shortening of Allhallowe'en, All Hallows even, etc., 1550s, "the evening before All-Hallows." This is from otherwise-obsolete hallow (n.), in Middle English halwe, "holy person, saint," from Old English halga, which is from the source of hallow (v.). Also see even (n.), and compare hallows.

All-Hallows is Middle English al-halwe, late Old English ealra halgan "all saints, the saints in heaven collectively," also the name of the feast day and of individual churches. The date Oct. 31 is described as alle halwe eue by c. 1300. Hallow-day for "All-Saints Day" is from 1590s; earlier was halwemesse day (late 13c.).  Hallowtide (15c.) was the first week of November.

The last night of the year in the old Celtic calendar, where it was Old Year's Night, a night for witches. A pagan holiday given a cursory baptism. The word and the magical lore about the date were popularized by Burns' poem (1785, and he attached a footnote explaining it), but it probably dates to 17c. in Scotland and is the name of a tune in 1724. The tune is mentioned again in an English-Scots songbook ("The Chearful Companion") in 1783, and Burns was not the first to describe the customs in print.

Hallow-E'en, or Holy Eve, is the evening previous to the celebration of All Saints. That it is propitious to the rites of divination, is an opinion still common in many parts of Scotland. [John Main, footnote to his poem "Hallow-E'en," Glasgow, 1783]

1866 in reference to an Iron Age civilization of Europe, from the name of a village in Upper Austria, where implements from this period were found. The Germanic name is literally "place of salt," in reference to ancient salt mines there, which preserved the bodies of the original miners.

of or pertaining to the language group that includes ancient Egyptian, Berber, Galla, etc.; 1842, from Ham/Cham, name of the second son of Noah (Genesis ix.18-19), whose four sons were popularly believed to have populated Egypt and adjacent regions of Africa.

type of electric organ favored by 1960s rock bands, trademark name (1935), invented 1929 by U.S. inventor and clockmaker Laurens Hammond (1895-1973).