Valhalla

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: en, /vælˈhælÉ™/
• US IPA: en, /vælˈhælÉ™/, /vÉ‘lˈhÉ‘lÉ™/

Alternative forms

• Valhall, {{3}}

Origin

, from , from valr ("dead warriors") + hǫll ("hall").

Full definition of Valhalla

Proper noun

1. (Norse mythology) The home of half of all warriors who died gloriously in battle as well as many of the Æsir.
• 1791-05-01, Moore's Inquiry into the Subject of Suicide, Such souls as were detruded from the body by any violent method went strait to Valhalla. (Latin original: Nostratibus sane hoc erat infallibiliter persuasum, animas, non vulgares, neque senio morbove, sec cruenta morte & vi corporibus exeuntes, recta ad Vahlallam ferri)
• 1996, Carolyne Larrington, The Poetic Edda, In some poems they are envisaged as divine figures, women who serve mead to the dead warriors in Valhall, and who fulfil the will of Odin in overseeing battle and making sure that victory is awarded to the right man.

Derived terms

• Valhallan

Related terms

• Valgrind

Noun

1. (by extension) An abode of the gods or afterlife in general.
• 1915, Edward Plunkett, Lord Dunsany, Fifty-One Tales, “The swans are singing again,” said to one another the gods. And looking downwards, for my dreams had taken me to some fair and far Valhalla, I saw below me an iridescent bubble not greatly larger than a star shine beautifully but faintly, and up and up from it looking larger and larger came a flock of white, innumerable swans, singing and singing and singing, till it seemed as though even the gods were wild ships swimming in music.
• 1959, Tom Lehrer, We Will All Go Together When We Go, You will all go directly to your respective Valhallas.