English
Valhalla
Valhalla comes from New Latin (form not named), and goes back to Old Norse Valhǫll.
- Old Norsec. 800–1350Valhǫll
- New Latinc. 1500–1900form not named
- Englishearliest quotation 1791Valhalla
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Old Norsec. 800–1350Valhǫll
- New Latinc. 1500–1900form not named
- Englishearliest quotation 1791Valhalla
Earliest quotation: 1791, Moore's Inquiry into the Subject of Suicide: “[S]uch souls as were detruded from the body by…”
A compound of Valhǫll ‘dead warriors’ + hǫll ‘hall’
Proto-Indo-European *welh₃- ‘to wound’
Proto-Germanic *walaz ‘corpse, body, battlefield’
Old Norse valr ‘the dead, slain in battle’
Old Norse Valhǫll ‘dead warriors’
Proto-Germanic *hallō ‘hall’
Old Norse hǫll ‘hall’
Every English word from Old Norse Valhǫll
Today it means
name The home of half of all warriors who died gloriously in battle as well as many of the Æsir.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Old Norse Valhǫll / Valhalla