Combe

A combe (/kuːm/; also spelled coombe or coomb and, in place names, comb) can refer either to a steep, narrow valley, or to a small valley or large hollow on the side of a hill;[1][2] in any case, it is often understood simply to mean a small valley through which a watercourse does not run.[3][4] The word "combe" derives from Old English cumb, of the same meaning, and is unrelated to the English word "comb".[5] It derives ultimately from the same Brythonic source as the Welsh cwm (Welsh for 'valley'; pronounced [kʊm]), which has the same meaning.[6] Today, the word is used mostly in reference to the combes of southern[7] and southwestern England.

For other uses, see Combe (disambiguation).
Look up combe in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Examples

The following is a list places in the British Isles named for having combes:

References
  1. "Combe". Merriam–Webster's Dictionary. Merriam–Webster. 2011.
  2. "Coomb". Webster's New World College Dictionary. Cleveland, Ohio: Wiley Publishing, Inc. 2010.
  3. "Combe". Encarta World English Dictionary: North American Edition. Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. 2009.
  4. "Coomb". Collins Pocket English Dictionary. HarperCollins Publishers Ltd. 2010. Archived from the original on 2011-10-18.
  5. "Comb". Century Dictionary.
  6. Gooden, Phillip (2009). The Story of English. Quercus. p. 22. ISBN 9781847242723. Retrieved 27 December 2021.
  7. "Coombe". Compact Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. 2010. Archived from the original on January 27, 2014. A short valley or hollow on a hillside or coastline, especially in southern England.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.