Halt
late 16th century: originally in the phrase make halt, from German haltmachen, from halten ‘to hold’.
wiktionary
From Middle English halten, from Old English healtian(“to be lame, walk with a limp”), from Proto-Germanic *haltōną. English usage in the sense of 'make a halt' is from the noun. Cognate with North Frisian halte, Swedish halta.
From Middle French halt, from early modern German halt(“stop!”), imperative of halten(“to hold, to stop”). More at hold.
From Middle English halt, from Old English healt, from Proto-Germanic *haltaz(“halt, lame”), from Proto-Indo-European *kol-d-, from Proto-Indo-European *kel-(“to beat, strike, cut, slash”). Cognate with Danish halt, Swedish halt.
etymonline
halt (n.)
"a stop, a halting," 1590s, from French halte (16c.) or Italian alto, ultimately from German Halt, imperative from Old High German halten "to hold" (see hold (v.)). A German military command borrowed into the Romanic languages 16c.
halt (adj.)
"lame," in Old English lemphalt "limping," from Proto-Germanic *haltaz (source also of Old Saxon, Old Frisian halt, Old Norse haltr, Old High German halz, Gothic halts "lame"), from PIE *keld-, from root *kel- (1) "to strike, cut," with derivatives meaning "something broken or cut off" (source also of Russian koldyka "lame," Greek kolobos "broken, curtailed"). The noun meaning "one who limps; the lame collectively" is from c. 1200.
halt (v.1)
"make a halt," 1650s, from halt (n.). As a command word, attested from 1796. Related: Halted; halting.
halt (v.2)
"to walk unsteadily, move with a limping gait," early 14c., from Old English haltian (Anglian), healtian (West Saxon), "to limp, be lame; to hesitate," from Proto-Germanic *halton (source also of Old Saxon halton, Middle Dutch halten, Old High German halzen), derivative verb from the source of halt (adj.). Figurative use from early 15c. Related: Halted; halting.
