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HOUSEL
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HOUSEL, the English name, until the time of the Reformation, for the Eucharist.- The word in O. Eng. was /nisei. Its proper meaning is " sacrifice," and thus the word hunsl appears in Ulfilas' Gothic version of Matt. ix. 13, " I will have mercy and not sacrifice." The ultimate. origin is doubtful. The New English Dictionary connects it with a Teutonic stem meaning " holy "; from which is derived the Lithuanian szwentas, and Lettish noels. Skeat refers it to a root meaning " to kill," which may connect it with Gr. xaivete.