It doesn’t *seem* very dumb; it just seems like open acknowledgement of the ways our existences are beholden to financial incentives is a minor taboo because it’s, like, cringe and stuff.

The compound is a compound of *haljō (discussed above) and *wītjan (reconstructed from forms such as Old English witt 'right mind, wits', Old Saxon gewit 'understanding', and Gothic un-witi 'foolishness, understanding').

Proto-Germanic *halja-wītjan is reconstructed from Old Norse hel-víti 'hell', Old English helle-wíte 'hell-torment, hell', Old Saxon helli-wīti 'hell', and the Middle High German feminine noun helle-wīze.

which would make its literal meaning "one who travels to the netherworld".

The compound is composed of two elements: *haljō and *rūnō, the Proto-Germanic precursor to Modern English rune. The second element in the Gothic haliurunnae may however instead be an agent noun from the verb rinnan ("to run, go"),

This form is reconstructed from the Latinized Gothic plural noun *haliurunnae (attested by Jordanes; according to philologist Vladimir Orel, meaning 'witches'), Old English helle-rúne ('sorceress, necromancer', according to Orel), and Old High German helli-rūna 'magic'.

Related early Germanic terms and concepts include Proto-Germanic *halja-rūnō(n), a feminine compound noun, and *halja-wītjan, a neutral compound noun.

it used to be better

particularly *healthy