Etymology

valley

val·ley
V4A1L1L1E1Y4

Today it means: An elongated depression cast between hills or mountains, often with a river flowing through it. Full definition →

Middle English valeye ← Anglo-Norman valey ← Old French valee
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The story

  1. Latin · derived fromvallēs
  2. Old French · derived fromvalee
  3. Anglo-Norman · derived fromvaley
  4. Middle English · inherited fromvaleye
  5. English todayvalley

From Middle English valeye, valey, from Anglo-Norman valey, Old French valee (compare French vallée), from Latin vallēs/vallis. Doublet of vlei and vly. Displaced native dene, from dene and partially displaced native dale, from dæl.

Words from the same roots

Latinvallēs all →

vallecularValles Marineris

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.