fire-halls

Updated: May 22, 2025

'Now in those times there were wont to be large fire-halls at the homesteads. The hall, <i>holl, skáli, stofa</i>, was the principal room in every home. <i>Elda-skáli</i>, or fire-hall, as the one alluded to at Biarg, was so called from its serving as a cooking-hall and a sitting-hall at once.

- The Story of Grettir the Strong

Now, in those times there were wont to be large fire-halls at the homesteads, wherein men sat at long fires in the evenings; boards were set before the men there, and afterwards folk slept out sideways from the fires; there also women worked at the wool in the daytime. Now, one evening, when Grettir had to rub Asmund's back, the old carle said,

- The Story of Grettir the Strong