Whole, wholesome (Hastings' Dictionary)
The Anglo-Sax. hdl became in Middle Eng. hole ; the spelling whole is due to a dialectic pronun. (as in whoop, whore *) and obscures the connexion of the word with hale, heal, holy. ' Hole ' as well as ' whole ' is used by Tindale, as Ex 5" ' see that ye del3fver the hole tale of brj'cke.' 1. The earliest meaning is healthy, as in Mt 9'- 'Tliey that be whole need not a i)hysician, but they that are sick ' (ol luxvofre^). So Udall, Ent>:- rnvs' Paraph, i.
28, ' Yf thine iye bee clere and wholle, it geveth sight to all the membres ' ; Hall, Worl:^, iii. 461, 'We are not the same men sick and whole'; Calderwood, Histonj, 140, 'Mr. Patrick Adamsone, called commonly Bishop of St. Andrews, had keeped his Castle, like a fox in a hole, a long time, diseased of a great seditie, as he himself called his disease. . When the King Cometh to St. Andrews, he becometh a whole man.' 2.
Next, made healthy, healed, as in Mk S^ ' Go in peace, and be whole of thy plague ' {(adi vyi-ns) ; so Tennyson, Lancelot and Elaine — * He called his wound a little hurt, Whereof he would be quickly whole.' 3.
Then, unbroken, entire, as in Dt 27' ' Thon shalt build the altar of the Lord thy God of whole stones' (RV 'unhewn'); 2 S 1" 'my life is yet whole in me'; Pr l" 'Let us swallow tin ni up alive as the grave ; and whole, as those that go down into the pit ' ; Is 14™'- " ' Rejoice not thou, whole Palestina ' (RV ' O Philistia, all of thee'). Cf. Erasmus, Crede, 139, 'with pure and whole faith.' Wholesome occurs in AV but twice, Pr 15 'a wholesome tongue' (lV.?
5> »V^-i, LXX facris yXwaa-q^, RVm ' the healing of the tongue '), and 1 Ti 6' ' and consent not to wholesome words ' (iryialvouat ' Hot ia spelt ' whol ' in Dt Oi" AV 161L XA70IS, RV ' sound words,' RVm ' healthful '). Id both places the word means health-giving, healing. In the latter place there is at least a hint of thai moral meaning which ' wholesome ' had in older English = soul -healing, saving ('heUsam'). This meaning is found in the Pr. Bk. Psalter, Ps 20* 28''. See Driver's Par.
Psalt. p. 48.5, and the quo- tations there. See also art. Healt H. J. Hastings.
This topic also has an entry in the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Both articles offer independent scholarly perspectives.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia on Whole, wholesome
Whole; Wholesome hol, hol'-sum: "Whole," originally "hale" (a word still in poetic use), had at first the meaning now expressed by its derivative "healthy." In this sense "whole" is fairly common (Job 5:18, etc.) in English Versions of the Bible, although much more common in the New Testament than in the Old Testament. From this meaning "healthy," the transition to the modern force. "complete," "perfect," "entire" (Ex 12:6, ere) was not unnatural, and it is in this later sense alone that the adverb "wholly" (Le 6:22, etc.) is used. "Wholesome," however, is derived from the earlier meaning of "whole." It occurs in Pr 15:4, the King James Version, the English Revised Version, "a wholesome tongue" (rapha', "heal," the Revised Version margin "the healing of the tongue," the American Standard Revised Version "a gentle tongue"), and in 1Ti 6:3, the King James Version "wholesome words" (hugiaino, "be healthy," the Revised Version margin "healthful," the Revised Version (British and American) "sound"). Burton Scott Easton
References
- Orr, J. (ed.) (1915) The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Chicago: Howard-Severance Company. [Public Domain]
- Easton, M.G. (1893) Easton's Bible Dictionary. 3rd edn. Thomas Nelson. [Public Domain]
- Nave, O.J. (1897) Nave's Topical Bible. Topical Bible Publishing Co.. [Public Domain]
- Hastings, J. (ed.) (1909) A Dictionary of the Bible. Edinburgh: T&T Clark. [Public Domain]
- Smith, W. (ed.) (1884) Smith's Bible Dictionary. London: John Murray. [Public Domain]
- Fausset, A.R. (1878) Fausset's Bible Dictionary. [Public Domain]A Critical and Expository Bible Cyclopaedia