1. The n whole derives from the adj whole, ME hole (hoole), earlier hale, OE hal, sound (complete), healthy: cf OFris hel, OS hel, OHG-MHG-G heil, Go hails, MD hiel, MD-D heel, ON heill, syn OSI celu, OP kailustikan, health, Gr koilu, the beautiful
(prop, neu adj). The OG mcetym is *khailaz; the IE, *koilos; the IE r, *kail-, *koil-.
2. From whole cloth, a (large) uncut piece of cloth, derives (of a story, a lie) “made out of whole cloth” — a sheer fabrication; whole meal=meal (grain coarsely ground) of entire-wheat; wholesale, goods sold in large quantities, hence the corresp adj, whence the sense “both extensive and undiscriminating or indiscriminate. . . .”
