English
dale
Dale comes from Middle English dale ‘a dale or valley’, and goes back to Proto-Germanic *dalą.
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*dalą1‘valley’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*dal1‘valley’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150dæl1‘valley’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500dale1‘a dale or valley’
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1587dale1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English dale
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1587, Christopher Marlowe: “And we will all the pleasures prove / That…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*daląWiktionary, English dale‘valley’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*dalWiktionary, English dale‘valley’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150dælWiktionary, English dale‘valley’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500daleWiktionary, English dale‘a dale or valley’
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1587daleWiktionary, English dale. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1587, Christopher Marlowe: “And we will all the pleasures prove / That…”
Word family
English words that share an ancestor with dale, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.
through Proto-Germanic *dalą ‘valley, dale’
through Proto-West Germanic *dal ‘valley, dale’
through Old English dæl ‘valley, dale’
- deal ← del
33 more relatives in the full family tree
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Today it means
noun A valley, often in an otherwise hilly area.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “dale”. 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 / Proto-Germanic *dalą / dale