ring-hall

noun

An Anglo-Saxon mead hall.

OriginOld English hringsele →
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Meanings

nounring-hall (plural ring-halls)

plural ring-halls

  1. literarykenningAn Anglo-Saxon mead hall.

    Heorot is cleansed, the bright ringhall[.]

    1983, Constance Hieatt, Beowulf and Other Old English Poems, New York: Bantam, page 34
    3 more examples

    the joy of halls to the men and hoarded treasure, the bright ring-halls, and for himself a ship on the sea-shore would seek.

    1843, J.M. Kemble, The Poetry of the Codex Vercellensis, London: Æfric Society, page 96

    When I first landed I proceeded to the ring-hall and saluted Hrothgar.

    1999, Seamus Heaney, Beowulf, London: Faber and Faber, page 64

    In the midst of this imago mundi, in this enclosing and protecting ring-hall of the people favoured by God and their king, is situated the gift-throne from which the lord of the rings circulates treasures among the dryht men.

    2011, Alvin A. Lee, Gold-Hall and Earth-Dragon, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, page 165

Origin

  1. Old Englishhringsele
  2. Englishring-hall

Calque of Old English hringsele, from hring (“ring”) + sele (“hall”).

More words from Old English

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

ring-hall. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ring-hall

MLA

“ring-hall.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ring-hall. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ring-hall,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ring-hall.

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