gift hall

noun

A large communal building used in early Germanic and Norse societies as a place where valuable gifts were distributed to loyal warriors, thanes, retainers, etc.

OriginOld English gifheall →
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Meanings

noungift hall (plural gift halls)

plural gift halls

  1. A large communal building used in early Germanic and Norse societies as a place where valuable gifts were distributed to loyal warriors, thanes, retainers, etc.

    Then morning came and many a warrior gathered,as I've heard, around the gift-hall, clan chiefs flocking from far and near[.]

    1999, Seamus Heaney, Beowulf, London: Faber and Faber, page 27

Origin

  1. Old Englishgifheall
  2. Englishgift hall

Calque of Old English gifheall, from gif (“gift”) + heall (“hall”).

More words from Old English

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

gift hall. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/gift%20hall

MLA

“gift hall.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/gift%20hall. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “gift hall,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/gift%20hall.

Source: gift hall on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.