English
avale
Avale comes from Old French avaler ‘to descend’, from val ‘to the valley’, and ultimately from Latin vallis.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvallis1as vallis‘a valley, vale’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400val2‘to the valley’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400avaler2‘to descend’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500avalen2‘to (cause to) sink or drop’
- Englishearliest quotation 1590avale2
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, Old French val
- 2 Wiktionary, English avale
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book II, Canto IX: “And from their sweaty courses did avale.”.
Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvallisWiktionary, Old French valas vallis‘a valley, vale’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400valWiktionary, English avale‘to the valley’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400avalerWiktionary, English avale‘to descend’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500avalenWiktionary, English avale‘to (cause to) sink or drop’
- Englishearliest quotation 1590avaleWiktionary, English avale. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book II, Canto IX: “And from their sweaty courses did avale.”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *welH- ‘to turn, wind, roll’
well, volume, walk, wall, revolution, evolution, involve, evolve, revolt, vault, valve, vulgar, helix, waltz, convoluted, divulge, voluminous, gauche, vagrant, convolution, vulva, vulgate, iliac, ilium, involution, voluble, valvular, valise, 74 more
through Proto-Germanic *waluz ‘staff, stick’
Today it means
verb To cause to descend; to lower; to let fall
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “avale”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Old French val. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.
Etymograph / Latin vallis / avale