KATHERINE HALL

English form of the name of a saint martyred at Alexandria in 307. The story has it that she was condemned to be broken on the wheel for her Christian belief. However, the wheel miraculously fell apart, and so she was beheaded instead. There were many elaborations on this story, which was one of the most popular in early Christian mythology, and she has been the object of a vast popular cult. The earliest sources that mention her are in Greek and give the name in the form Aikaterinē. The name is of unknown etymology; the suggestion that it may be derived from Hēcatē, the pagan goddess of magic and enchantment, is not convincing. From an early date, it was associated with the Greek adjective katharos ‘pure’. This led to spellings with -th- and to a change in the middle vowel (see Katharine). Several later saints also bore the name, including the mystic St Katherine of Siena (1347–80) who both led a contemplative life and played a role in the affairs of state of her day. Katherine is also a royal name: in England it was borne by the formidable and popular Katherine of Aragon (1485–1536), the first wife of Henry VIII, as well as by the wives of Henry V and Charles II.

English, Scottish, Irish, German, and Scandinavian: from Middle English hall (Old English heall), Middle High German halle, Old Norse hōll all meaning ‘hall’ (a spacious residence), hence a topographic name for someone who lived in or near a hall or an occupational name for a servant employed at a hall. In some cases it may be a habitational name from places named with this word, which in some parts of Germany and Austria in the Middle Ages also denoted a salt mine. The English name has been established in Ireland since the Middle Ages, and, according to MacLysaght, has become numerous in Ulster since the 17th century.