valley English · revision 3776

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1297|origins=la vallis}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈvæl.i/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|valei]],^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) [[bor|xno|valey]], Old French valee, earlier vallede,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986) from [[la-vul|*vallāta]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986) from [[la|vallis|t=valley]] or vallēs,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) a word of unknown origin.^(Etymonline) It is related to [[vale]].^(Barnhart 1988)^(NODE 1998)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A long hollow between hills or mountains: 1297 in the OED,^(OED 1989) about 1300 in Etymonline,^(Etymonline) and probably before 1300, in ''Kyng Alisaunder'', according to Barnhart.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The figurative ''valley of the shadow of death'' and ''valley of tears'' are from 1382, in the Wycliffe Bible;^(OED 1989) the Valley of Death of the 23rd Psalm was rendered in Middle English as Helldale.^(Etymonline) Often the basin of a stream, it came to mean the region drained by a river, from about 1790.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) A depression suggesting a valley, as a trough between waves, is from 1611,^(OED 1989) and a low region of a graph from 1935.^(OED 1989) The ''Valley Girl'', after the San Fernando Valley of California, was popularised in 1982 by a song of Frank Zappa and his daughter.^(Etymonline) In dialect a ''valley'' was any small channel or hollow, as a gutter.^(Wright 1898)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1297 – a valley.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1382 – ''valley of the shadow of death''.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1611 – a hollow, as between waves.^(OED 1989)

+ * c. 1790 – a river basin.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1935 – a low region of a graph.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1982 – ''Valley Girl''.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A long, low area between hills or mountains, often with a [[river]] running through it.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # A large area of land drained by a river system: ''the Mississippi valley''.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # A [[hollow]] or [[depression]] resembling a valley.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # The angle where two slopes of a roof meet.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[valleyed]]

+ * [[valleylike]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[dale]]

+ * [[dell]]

+ * [[glen]]

+ * [[strath]]

+ * [[vale]]

+ * [[avalanche]]

+ * [[vaudeville]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}