Hail or Hale
This word is used among Freemasons with two very different significations.
- When addressed as an inquiry to a visiting Brother it has the same import as that in which it is used under like circumstances by mariners. Thus: "Whence do you hail?" that is, "Of what Lodge are you a member?" Used in this sense, it comes from the Saxon term of salutation hael, and should be spelled hail.
- Its second use is confined to what Freemasons understand by the tie, and in this sense it signifies to conceal, being derived from the Saxon word helan, to hide, the e being pronounced in Anglo-Saxon as a in the word fate. By the rules of etymology, it should be written hale, but is usually spelled hele.
~~ooOoo~~
This page is adapted from the Glossary at Phoenixmasonry — Used with permission.