From OE 'heall,' from PIE *ḱel- (to cover) — the same root behind 'hell,' 'helmet,' 'cell,' and 'conceal.'
A large room for meetings, concerts, or other events; the entrance area of a house; a large building used for a specified purpose (e.g., town hall, concert hall).
From Old English heall (hall, dwelling, large room), from Proto-Germanic *hallo (covered place, hall), from PIE *kel- (to cover, conceal, hide). The PIE root *kel- is remarkably productive: it gave Latin celare (to hide, conceal), Latin cella (storeroom, chamber — source of "cell" and "cellar"), Greek kalyptein (to cover — source of "apocalypse," literally "un-covering"), Latin color (color — originally a covering), Latin clam (secretly), and Old Irish celim (I conceal). The Proto-Germanic *hallo was specifically a large covered space — the great hall of a chieftain, where the community gathered under
The words 'hall' and 'hell' come from the same PIE root *ḱel- (to cover, to conceal). A hall is a covered meeting place; hell is the covered underworld — the hidden place beneath the earth. 'Helmet' (a head covering), 'cell' (a small enclosed room), and 'conceal' (to cover over) are all relatives.