Etymology Dictionary

VALHALLA,  the hall of the slain.  (Scand.)   In Scand. mythology, the place of immortality for the souls of heroes slain in battle.   The spelling Valhalla is hardly correct; it is probably due to Bp. Percy, who translated M. Mallet's work on Northern Antiquities; see chap. v. of the translation.—Icel. valhöll (gen. valhallar), lit. the hall of the slain.—Icel. valr, the slain, slaughter; and höll or hall, a hall, cognate with E. Hall.   β. The Icel. valr is cognate with A. S. wæl, slaughter, the slain, also a single corpse.   The lit. sense is 'a choice;' hence the set or number of the chosen ones, selected from the field of battle by the deities called in Icelandic Valkyriur and in A. S. Wælcyrigan, lit. 'choosers of the slain' or 'choosers of the selection,' i.e. of the select ones.   Thus Icel. valr (A.S. wæl) is closely allied to Icel. val (G. wahl), a choice, and to Skt. vara, adj. better, best, excellent, precious, vara, sb. a selecting, from vri, to select, choose; see Weal.