hall

Pronunciation

• IPA: /hɔːl/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English halle,^[2][3] inherited from Old English heall (“a spacious roofed residence; a temple; a law court”),^[4][2] from Proto-Germanic *hallō (“covered place, hall”),^[4][2] from Proto-Indo-European *kel- (“to cover, conceal, save”).^[4][5] It is cognate with Old Saxon and Old High German halla, Dutch hal, German Halle and Old Norse hǫll,^[4][2] and related to Old English hell, the source of hell,^[4] to Latin cella, the source of cell, and to Greek kalía “hut”.^[2][3] French halle and Italian alla are from Middle High German.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A place covered by a roof, a large roofed residence or temple: about 725, in Beowulf.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Old English heall meant any large place under a roof, whether a royal residence, an official building or the main room of a house where the public life of the household went on.^[5][4] The large public room of a mansion or palace, for receptions and banquets, is from about 1200,^[6] and the residence of a landowner, as in manor hall, from about 1000.^[6] At Oxford and Cambridge a hall was a residence of students from 1379,^[6] and the large dining room of a college from 1577.^[6] The sense “passageway, entrance room” evolved in the 17th century, when the doors of private rooms opened onto the hall;^[4][5] as private rooms grew in importance, the hall lost its function and shrank to a vestibule or corridor.^[5] The older sense survives in town hall, music hall and study hall.^[4][5] Hall of fame is from 1786 as an abstract idea, and in the sporting sense from 1901.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 725 – Old English heall.^[2]
• c. 1000 – a manor house.^[6]
• c. 1200 – the large room of a mansion.^[6]
• 1379 – a students' residence.^[6]
• 1577 – a college dining hall.^[6]
• 17th century – a passage, entrance room.^[4]
• 1786 – hall of fame.^[4]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A corridor or passageway in a building.
2. The room just inside the front door of a house; a vestibule or lobby.
3. A large room or building for public meetings or entertainment: a concert hall.
4. A building used by a university for living, teaching or dining: a hall of residence.
5. The manor house of a landed estate.

Word family

• guildhall
• hallmark
• hallway
• Whitehall
• beer hall
• borough hall
• city hall

Related words

• hell
• cell
• conceal

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press