Etymologically
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hall

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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

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