vallée

Forms

vallée f (plural vallées)^[1] Old French valede, valee; the spelling vallée dates from about 1315.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is formed from French val + -ée.^{[2][4][5][6][7]} The suffix may at first have had an augmentative value, as in the phrase greignurs valees (“greater valleys”) in the Chanson de Roland.^[2] The base noun is from Latin vallis (“valley”).^[6][1] Compare valleta, found in place names from 804.^[2]

Compare Italian vallata and Old Occitan vallada.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found about 1100 as valede in the French glosses of Rashi and as valee in the Chanson de Roland, meaning the space between two mountains or on either side of a river, a valley.^[2][5] The Roland has the pagans riding par ces graignurs valées.^[8]

Semantic evolution

In religious language the Psalter (first half of the 12th century) has la valedes de lermes, the valley of tears that came to stand for life on earth; the phrase stayed rare until the Académie's dictionary of 1718.^[2][3] The valley of Jehoshaphat, the place of the Last Judgement in the Bible, is recorded from the 13th century.^[2][9]

In Middle French (14th–16th centuries) vallée also meant “descent”, hence à la vallée “going down” in Malherbe, a sense taken up again in mining for the descent of a mine (1835).^[3][4][2] From about 1530 (Marot) the word named the whole basin of a river, and by 1794 the low, flat land at the bottom of a valley as opposed to the slopes.^[2][3] Old slang used it for the throat and so for appetite (1808).^[3] Geography later added terms such as vallée transversale (1796) and vallée glaciaire (1908).^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1100 – Valede in Rashi's glosses, valee in the Chanson de Roland.^[2]
• First half of the 12th century – Valedes de lermes in the Oxford Psalter.^[2]
• c. 1315 – The spelling vallée appears.^[5][3]
• c. 1530 – Marot uses it for a river basin.^[5][3]
• 1796 – Saussure writes of longitudinal and transverse valleys.^[2]
• 1808 – Slang sense “throat, appetite”.^[3]
• 1835 – “Descent of a mine” in Baudrimont's dictionary.^[2]
• 1908 – Vallée glaciaire is recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A valley, a long hollow between hills or mountains, usually shaped by a river: la vallée du Rhône.^[9][2]
2. (geography) Kinds of valley: vallée sèche or vallée morte (no longer drained by a river), vallée glaciaire.^[9][5]
3. The basin of a river, the land it waters.^[2][5]
4. In mountain areas, the low country as opposed to the heights: descendre dans la vallée.^[2]
5. (religion) Vallée de larmes: earthly life;^[9][8] vallée de Josaphat: the place of the Last Judgement.^[9][8]

Related words

• val
• vallon
• aval
• dévaler
• Latin vallis

Usage notes

Old gunners had the saying vallée attire le boulet, for they believed shots carried less far over a hollow.^[8]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d e f Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
6. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 14, 137a
8. ^ a b c d e Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert