A dale is an open
valley. ''Dale'' is a
synonym
A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are all ...
of the word ''
valley''. The name is used when describing the
physical geography of an area. It is used most frequently in the
Lowlands of Scotland
The Lowlands ( sco, Lallans or ; gd, a' Ghalldachd, , place of the foreigners, ) is a cultural and historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Lowlands and the Highlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when ...
and in
the North of England; the term "
fell" commonly refers to the
mountains or
hills that flank the dale.
Etymology
The word ''dale'' comes from the
Old English
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...
word ''dæl'', from which the word "
dell
Dell is an American based technology company. It develops, sells, repairs, and supports computers and related products and services. Dell is owned by its parent company, Dell Technologies.
Dell sells personal computers (PCs), servers, data ...
" is also derived. It is also related to
Old Norse word ''dalr'' (and the modern
Icelandic word ''dalur''), which may perhaps have influenced its survival in northern England. The Germanic origin is assumed to be *''dala-''. ''Dal-'' in various combinations is common in placenames in Norway. Modern English valley and French vallée are presumably not related to dale. A distant relative of ''dale'' is currency unit
dollar, stemming from German ''thaler'' or ''daler'', short for
joachimsthaler
A thaler (; also taler, from german: Taler) is one of the large silver coins minted in the states and territories of the Holy Roman Empire and the Habsburg monarchy during the Early Modern period. A ''thaler'' size silver coin has a diameter o ...
coins manufactured in the town of
Joachimsthal Joachimsthal, sometimes spelled Joachimstal, may refer to:
Places
* Joachimsthal, Bohemia, former name of Jáchymov,, Czechia, famous for its silver and uranium mines and which gave its name to the ''Joachimsthaler'' currency
* Joachimsthal, Bra ...
in Bohemia.
[Falk, Hjalmar (1991). ''Etymologisk ordbog over det norske og det danske sprog.'' Oslo: Bjørn Ringstrøms antikvariat. .]
The word is perhaps related to Welsh ''dol'' (meadow, pasture, valley), Russian ''dol'' (valley, reverse side) and Serbian/Croatian/Bulgarian/Russian ''dolina'' (basin, ''
doline'' is a geological term for certain surface depressions in
karst
Karst is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone, dolomite, and gypsum. It is characterized by underground drainage systems with sinkholes and caves. It has also been documented for more weathering-resistant ro ...
areas). There is
semantic equivalency {{about, semantic equivalence of metadata, the concept in mathematical logic, Logical equivalence
In computer metadata, semantic equivalence is a declaration that two data elements from different vocabularies contain data that has similar meaning. ...
to many words and phrases, suggesting a common
Indo-European affinity.
Vale
A vale is a type of valley.
Vale may also refer to:
Places Georgia
* Vale, Georgia, a town in the Samtskhe-Javakheti region
Norway
* Våle, a historic municipality
Portugal
* Vale (Santa Maria da Feira), a former civil parish in the municipali ...
and
thalweg are also related.
Examples
The following are several examples of major dales that have the name dale. The river name is usually appended with "-dale". There are also many smaller dales; this is not an exhaustive list (see
dale (place name element) for more).
*
Airedale (Yorkshire)
*
Annandale (Dumfries & Galloway)
*
Calderdale
Calderdale is a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, England, whose population in 2020 was 211,439. It takes its name from the River Calder, and dale, a word for valley. The name Calderdale usually refers to the borough through which the u ...
(Yorkshire)
*
Clydesdale (Lanarkshire)
*
Coquetdale (Northumberland)
*
Eskdale (Cumbria)
*
Eskdale (Dumfries & Galloway)
*
Eskdale (Yorkshire)
*
Lauderdale (Scottish Borders)
*
Lonsdale (or Lunesdale, valley of the
Lune, Lancashire-Cumbria)
*
Nithsdale (Dumfries & Galloway)
*
Rochdale (Greater Manchester)
*
Rosendale Village (New York)
*
Teesdale (Durham)
*
Tweeddale (Scottish Borders)
*
Tynedale (Northumberland)
*
Weardale (Durham)
*
Wensleydale (or Yoredale, valley of the
Ure, Yorkshire)
*
Wuppertal (
North Rhine-Westphalia)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dale (Origin)
Landforms
Bodies of water
Slope landforms
Valleys