An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Hölle

by Friedrich Kluge

Hölle, feminine, ‘hell,’ from the equivalent Middle High German hęlle, Old High German hęlla, feminine, from hallja; compare Gothic halja, Anglo-Saxon and English hell, Old Saxon hęlla; a common Teutonic term applied by Christianity to ‘hades, infernum’; the Scandinavian hel shows that the earlier word upon which it is based was also used in prehistoric times for a heathen ‘infernum.’ Compare also Old Icelandic Hel, the goddess of the dead. It was possible for Christianity to adopt the old heathen word in all the Teutonic languages; in this case it is quite unnecessary to assume the diffusion of a Gothic or other term (compare Heide). It is usually connected with the root hel, hal, ‘to cover for concealment,’ hence Hölle, ‘the hiding-place.’ See hehlen, Hülle.