English
clough
Clough comes from Middle English clough ‘a narrow valley’, and goes back to Proto-West Germanic *klą̄h ‘cleft, sluice, abyss’.
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*klą̄h‘cleft, sluice, abyss’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150*clōhreconstructed
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500clough‘a narrow valley’
- Englishearliest quotation 1801same form
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*klą̄h‘cleft, sluice, abyss’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150*clōhreconstructed
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500clough‘a narrow valley’
- Englishearliest quotation 1801same form
Earliest quotation: 1801, William Chapman, Sundry Papers and Reports: “I have, accordingly, estimated the depth of drain at…”
The story
Perhaps conflated or influenced by Old Norse klofi (‘a cleft or rift in a hill, ravine’); compare Dutch kloof (‘a slit, crevice, chink’).
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *gel- ‘to form into a ball’
children, child, cold, clean, chill, globe, gel, cluster, jelly, cloud, colt, gelatin, gelato, glebe, clot, ganglion, clout, klutz, globus, globulin, clod, 48 more
Today it means
noun A narrow valley; a cleft in a hillside; a ravine, glen, or gorge.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-West Germanic *klą̄h / clough