An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Halle
Halle, feminine, ‘hall, large room, entrance hall, porch,’ unknown to Middle High German. The word, which was introduced by Luther into the literary language, was originally entirely unknown to the Upper German dialects (in earlier Upper German Vorschopf was used); it may have originated among the Franconian and Saxon tribes of Germany. It is a thorough Old Teutonic term; Old Icelandic hǫll, feminine, Anglo-Saxon heall, feminine, English hall, Old Saxon halla, Middle Low German halle, feminine, ‘hall, a large room covered with a roof and open or closed at the side,’ sometimes ‘temple, house of God.’ Not allied to Gothic hallus, Anglo-Saxon heall, ‘rock,’ Anglo-Saxon and English hill. From the Old German is derived French halle. Against the derivation from the root hel, ‘to conceal’ (compare hehlen), there is no weighty objection, Halle, ‘the concealed or covered place.’ Yet compare also Sanscrit çâlâ, ‘house.’ —
Halle, feminine, ‘saltern,’ is the ordinary German Halle, not, as was formerly supposed, a Keltic term (Welsh halen, ‘salt’); Halloren, a late Latin derivative of Halle, ‘saltern.’ Compare Old High German halhûs, ‘salt-house,’ Middle High German halgrâve, masculine, ‘director and judge in matters connected with salt-mines.’