vale

Forms

vale f (plural văi)^[1] MDA2 records regional plurals văli and veli and old or regional genitives văii, vălii and velii.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin vallis (“valley”).^{[3][2][4][5][1][6]} It survives in all four branches: Aromanian vale, Megleno-Romanian vali and Istro-Romanian vǫle.^[3][7][8] Its Romance cognates include Italian valle, Spanish valle, French val and Catalan vall.^[3][6]

After Capidan, Ciorănescu takes Bulgarian валог (valog) and Serbo-Croatian vala as loans from it.^[3] Wiktionary instead treats the Bulgarian word as native, formed on вал (val, “embankment”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1428, in the Slavonic documents of the Romanian chanceries.^[9] In Romanian texts the word appears in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of the early 16th century (vale, Psalm 123:4) and in all the 16th-century psalters in valea plângerii “the valley of weeping” (Psalm 83:6).^[10][11] MDA2 gives the Psaltirea Scheiană (c. 1573–1578) as its first source.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The core sense is a long, low stretch of land between heights, with a stream along it; by extension a low, watered plain.^[2][5] Regionally the word also means the stream itself or its bed.^[4][3] The Church phrase valea plângerii or valea lacrimilor names the earth as a place of suffering.^[4][2]

Adverbial uses are old: la vale “downhill, downstream”, de vale “down at the bottom”, and devale as one word.^[9][4][3] Colloquially a-și lua valea means to make off, and valea! is a command to leave.^[4] Tiktin records a lua pe cineva la vale “to make fun of someone”.^[9]

Timeline

• 1428 – first record, in a Slavonic charter.^[9]
• c. 1500–1520 – vale and valea in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki.^[10][12]
• c. 1551–1558 – valea in the Psaltirea Voronețeană.^[13]
• 1570 – the plural văile in Coresi's psalter.^[14]
• c. 1573–1578 – the Psaltirea Scheiană, MDA2's first source.^[2]
• 1843 – the Latin farewell vale! in a letter of Barițiu, a separate word.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A valley: a long hollow in the land shaped by running water or a glacier.^[4][2][1]
2. A low plain lying below the land around it.^[2][5]
3. (regional) A stream; the bed of a stream.^[4][3]
4. (colloquial, articled, as an interjection) Valea! “Off with you!”.^[4]

Word family

• devale
• vălcea
• vălean
• văios
• vâlcea

Related words

• Aromanian vale
• Latin vallis

Usage notes

The plural is văi.^[4][1] La vale means “downhill, downstream” and mai la vale “further on”.^[4] A separate word, the Latinism vale! “farewell”, closed letters in the 19th century.^[2][5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 1408
3. ^ a b c d e f g Ciorănescu, Alexandru (1958–1966), Diccionario etimológico rumano, La Laguna: Universidad de La Laguna (Romanian ed.: Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române, București: Saeculum, 2001), p. s.v. vale
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1, 1181
5. ^ a b c d e Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. vale
6. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 9134
7. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1099
8. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 322
9. ^ a b c d Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. vále
10. ^ a b Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Ungureanu, Mădălina; Moruz, Alexandru et al., roPsalt: Re-evaluating the Sixteenth Century Romanian Psalters (aligned corpus), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. Ps 123:4
11. ^ Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Ungureanu, Mădălina; Moruz, Alexandru et al., roPsalt: Re-evaluating the Sixteenth Century Romanian Psalters (aligned corpus), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. Ps 83:6
12. ^ Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Ungureanu, Mădălina; Moruz, Alexandru et al., roPsalt: Re-evaluating the Sixteenth Century Romanian Psalters (aligned corpus), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. Ps 35:9
13. ^ Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Ungureanu, Mădălina; Moruz, Alexandru et al., roPsalt: Re-evaluating the Sixteenth Century Romanian Psalters (aligned corpus), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. Ps 107:7
14. ^ Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Ungureanu, Mădălina; Moruz, Alexandru et al., roPsalt: Re-evaluating the Sixteenth Century Romanian Psalters (aligned corpus), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. Ps 59:6