"valley" in seven languages
Meaningvalley
Spanish
valle
/ˈbaʝe/
masc.inherited
French
vallée
/vale/
fem.inherited
Old French val + -ée; val survives in names and in par monts et par vaux.
Italian
valle
/ˈvalle/
fem.inherited
Portuguese
vale
/ˈvali/
masc.inherited
Romanian
vale
/ˈvale/
fem.inherited
Catalan
vall
/baʎ/
fem.inherited
English
valley
/ˈvæli/
from Latin/French · Old French valee
English → ItalianvalleyvalleCognateSame source — inherited, learned or borrowed. You can recognize it.What English and Italian share
The Latin ancestor
VALLEM (nom. VALLIS)‘valley’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
Latin VALLIS was feminine; Italian kept it so, while Spanish el valle went masculine. Spanish ll is [ʝ] for most speakers, Italian ll a long [ll].
English relatives: vale, valley (via French)
Sound laws at work
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In a sentence
- esEl pueblo está al fondo del valle.
- frLe village est au fond de la vallée.
- itIl paese è in fondo alla valle.
- ptO vilarejo fica no fundo do vale.
- roSatul e în fundul văii.
- caEl poble és al fons de la vall.
- enThe village is at the bottom of the valley.