convallis

Forms

convallis f (genitive convallis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin con- + vallis (“valley”).^[2][1][3] Varro and later Cassiodorus explained it as a hollowed valley, from cavus (“hollow”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lewis & Short cite it first from Varro and Lucretius.^[4][5] Köbler dates it from Cicero.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It is a deep, narrow or enclosed valley, a glen.^[2][4] Lewis & Short call it frequent and classical in prose and verse, in Cicero, Caesar, Livy, Virgil and Juvenal.^[4] The ablative is usually ⟨convalle⟩, but Varro and Apuleius have ⟨convallī⟩, and Prudentius has a neuter plural ⟨convallia⟩.^[2][4] Church Latin glosses it valley.^[6]

Timeline

• 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it.^[4][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it.^[4][5]
• c. 50 BC – Caesar uses it.^[4][5]
• 348/49–c. 413 AD – Prudentius has the plural convallia.^[4][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A deep, narrow or enclosed valley, a glen, ravine.^[2][4][1][6]

Related words

• vallis

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson