glen

See also: gleń, Glen, and Gleń

English

WOTD – 25 June 2017

Etymology

Raven’s Craig Glen in Dalry, North Ayrshire, Scotland, UK

From Middle English glen, borrowed from Irish gleann and Scottish Gaelic gleann, Old and Middle Irish glend, glenn (“mountain valley”), from Proto-Celtic *glendos (“valley”), hypothetically from Proto-Indo-European *glend- (“shore”) but the word may have been borrowed from a non-Indo-European substrate language. Compare Manx glion, Welsh glyn. Doublet of glyn.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) enPR: glĕn, IPA^(key): /ɡlɛn/
  • (pin–pen merger) enPR: glĭn, IPA^(key): /ɡlɪn/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛn

Noun

glen (plural glens)

1. A secluded and narrow valley, especially one with a river running through it; a depression between hills; a dale.
   • 1871, Charles Kingsley, “Down the Islands”, in At Last: A Christmas in the West Indies. […], volume I, London; New York, N.Y.: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC, page 41:

     What riches too, of gold and jewels, might not be hidden among those forest-shrouded glens and peaks? And beyond, and beyond again, ever new islands, new continents perhaps, an inexhaustible wealth of yet undiscovered worlds.

Derived terms

• Campsie Glen
• Forest Glen
• Glenalmond
• Glen Douglas
• Glen Eira
• Glen Ellyn
• Glen Falloch
• Glen Fiddich
• Glen Iris
• Glen Lyon
• Glen Ogle
• Glen Parva
• Glen Rose
• Glenrothes
• Glen Shee
• Glen Waverley
• Great Glen
• Watkins Glen

 

Translations

secluded and narrow valley

• Armenian: հովիտ (hy) (hovit), լեռնագոգ (hy) (leṙnagog)
• Bulgarian: клисура (bg) f (klisura)
• Catalan: barranc (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 幽谷 (zh) (yōugǔ)

• Dutch: dal (nl) n, vallei (nl)
• Finnish: notko (fi)
• French: vallon (fr) m
• Galician: valga (gl) f
• German: Tobel (de) m or n
• Greek: λαγκάδα (el) f (lagkáda)

  Ancient: νάπη f (nápē), ἄγκος n (ánkos), βῆσσα f (bêssa)

• Irish: gleann m

  Old Irish: glenn n

• Macedonian: клисура f (klisura), глен m (glen)
• Marathi: आड f (āḍ), खोरा m (khorā)
• Manx: glion
• Polish: wąwóz (pl) m
• Portuguese: cânion (pt) m, ravina (pt) f
• Russian: лощи́на (ru) f (loščína)
• Scottish Gaelic: gleann m
• Serbo-Croatian: gudura (sh) f
• Spanish: barranca f
• Welsh: glyn (cy)

See also

• defile (noun)
• gully
• strath

See also

• glen plaid (probably etymologically unrelated)

Further reading

• glen on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• leng, Gen'l, gen'l, Genl, Engl, NELG, Engl., genl

Manx

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡlɛn/

Etymology 1

From Old Irish glan, from Proto-Celtic *glanos (“clean, clear”).

Adjective

glen (plural glenney, comparative glenney)

1. clean, hygienic
2. clear
3. pure
4. downright, unqualified, emphatic

Derived terms

• neughlen

Etymology 2

From Old Irish glanaid (“cleanses, purifies, purges”), from the adjective.

Verb

glen (verbal noun glenney, past participle glennit or glent)

1. clean
2. clear
3. wipe
4. purify, cleanse

Slovene

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *glěnь.

Noun

glen m inan

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

Further reading

• “glen”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU (in Slovene), 2014–2024