upland

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English uplond, also uppelande,^[2][3] inherited from Old English upland (“the country, as opposed to the town”),^[3][4][5] formed from Old English up + land.^[3][5] The OED takes the Old English noun as a use of the phrase uppe land (“in the country”),^[6][7] and Etymonline compares the Old English phrase uppan lande.^[3] The sense "high ground", recorded from 1566, the OED treats as a fresh compound of the adjective up and land, perhaps partly suggested by the older word.^[6] It compares Old Norse Upplǫnd, the name of the inland eastern counties of Norway, the Swedish district name Uppland, and opland (“the inland country”).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The parts of a country outside the towns, the rural districts: in the Laud manuscript of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, in the annal for 1087, written before 1122.^[6][8][4]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English uplond meant the country as opposed to the town, the hinterland, and an uplond man was a peasant or countryman.^[2][3] The word was also an adverb, "out in the country", from the mid-13th century;^[3][2] Jack Upland was a name for a rustic from 1402.^[6] The adjective "rustic, countrified" was used from before 1500 to 1670, sometimes in the sense "rude, boorish";^[6][3] it replaced the older uplandish, from uplendisc (“rural, rustic”).^[9][3] The modern meaning, high or hilly ground, appears in 1566.^[6][3] From 1579 the word could also mean the interior of a country, away from the sea, a sense now archaic.^[6][3] In England and the United States it was used locally from 1572 for higher ground that does not flood, as opposed to meadow or marsh.^[6][7] The adjective, "lying on high ground", followed in 1610.^[6] From 1622 it described animals and birds of high ground, later in names such as upland sandpiper.^[6][5] Johnson (1755) defined the adjective as "higher in situation".^[10] In Wright's English Dialect Dictionary the uplands of Scotland and the north are hilly country, while in East Anglia the word means the higher, drier ground as against the fens.^[11]

Timeline

• before 1122 – the country, as opposed to the towns (obsolete by 1522).^[6]
• mid-13th century – adverb, out in the country.^[3][2]
• 1402 – Jack Upland, a name for a rustic.^[6]
• before 1500 – adjective, living in the country, rustic.^[6]
• 1566 – an area of high or hilly ground.^[6][7]
• 1572 – high ground as opposed to meadow or marsh, ground that does not flood.^[6]
• 1575 – adjective, inland, remote from the sea.^[6]
• 1579 – the interior of a country, away from the sea.^[6]
• 1610 – adjective, situated on high ground.^[6]
• 1622 – adjective, of animals living on high ground.^[6]
• 1639 – adjective, growing on high ground, as in upland cotton.^[6]
• 1858 – uplands, upland cotton.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. An area of high or hilly ground, often in the plural: Sheep graze on the uplands all summer.^{[12][13][7][6]}
2. Ground lying above the flood level of rivers or between hills, as opposed to meadow or marsh; chiefly local and US.^[7][6]
3. Land in the interior of a country, away from the sea.^[13][7][6]
4. (archaic) The rural parts of a country, as opposed to the towns.^[7][5][6]

Adjective

1. Of, relating to or situated in high land: an upland farm.^{[12][13][7][6]}
2. Living on or frequenting high ground: upland birds.^[7][6]
3. (archaic) Of the country; rustic or provincial.^[7][6]

Adverb

1. In or toward the higher or inner parts of a country.^[7][6]

Word family

• uplander

Related words

• up
• land
• uplandish
• inland
• highland
• lowland

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Clark Hall, J. R. (1960), A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 4th ed., with a supplement by H. D. Meritt, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
5. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
12. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
13. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin