Old English heall "place covered by a roof, spacious roofed residence, temple, law-court," from Proto-Germanic *hallo "covered place, hall" (cognates: Old Saxon, Old High German halla, German halle, Dutch hal, Old Norse höll "hall;" Old English hell, Gothic halja "hell"), from PIE root *kel- (2) "to hide, conceal" (see cell). Sense of "entry, vestibule" evolved 17c., at a time when the doors opened onto the main room of a house. Older sense preserved in town hall, music hall, etc., and in university dormitory names. Hall of fame attested by 1786 as an abstract concept; in sporting sense first attested 1901, in reference to Columbia College.