A greeting or exclamation meaning 'hail' or 'health,' originally from Germanic languages but now historically associated with a dark period in history.
From Old High German 'heil' meaning 'health' or 'prosperity.' Related to English 'hale' (healthy) and 'whole.' The word itself is ancient and innocent, but became notorious through its political misuse in the 20th century.
This is a sobering example of how ordinary words can become weaponized and permanently tainted by association—linguists note that truly innocent words almost never recover their neutral meaning once they've been tied to atrocity, which teaches us how powerful context is.
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