Dictionary:Dal

Nynorn

Etymology

From Old Norse dalr (ONP)

Shetland use

An Etymological Dictionary of the Norn Language in Shetland (1928–1932)

Jakobsen, Jakob

dal [dāl], sb., 1*) valley, direction of a valley; depression in the landscape. 2) trough of the sea between two waves, a d. atween twa waves (Uⁿ.). 3) a break in the weather; lull; abatement: a) calming of rough sea; he is a d. i’ de sea, the sea has gone down somewhat (Du.); b) short break between showers or squalls (Wests.); he’s just a d. for de maament [‘moment’] (Sa.); c) break in a storm or rough weather (N.Roe), a d. i’ de wadder [‘weather’], dali [dāli], a dali i’ de wadder: α) in N.Roe = dal 3 c; β) a fall in strong wind (Conn.; Du.), he’s makin’ a dal or dali, there is a break in the rough weather (in the storm), the gale abates. Cf. dol, sb. 4) a sound; firth; inlet (Fo.); mainly as a place-name; the inlet to the village “Ham” in Foula is thus called “de Dal”. — In sense 1, dal is now scarcely found except in place-names, mostly as a suffix in names of dales where, however, it is often pronounced del [dɛl, unstressed dɛl, del, dəl], influenced by Eng. “dale”, a word which is used colloquially in Shetl., side by side with “valley”. In Unst the form -dal is now, however, mostly used. See Shetl. Stedn. pp. 86—87. — O.N. dalr, m., dale. For dal (dali) 3, cf. No. dala av, vb., of storm-charged clouds: to glide away from the sky. — Shetl. dal [dāl] is also found in sense of a strip of level land; a flat, fertile patch of arable land, thus: a d. o’ grund, a bere-d., small patch of arable land for the sowing of barley (Ai.), “every tun (farm) has its dals” (Conn.); but in this case, dal comes from Celt. (Gael.) dail, sb., a patch of field, which often is found as the first part of Scottish place-names, denoting field; flat land. The two words are merged in Shetlandic. — See the compds. dala-mist, dala-mjork, dal(a)-reek, dalslag.

Pronunciation

IPA:

Alternate Forms

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Noun

dal

1. valley

Inflection

.

nm.s.2	Singular		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	dal	dalen	daler	dalerne
Accusative	dal	dalen	dali	dalena
Dative	dali	dalenon	dalon	dalonon
Genitive	dals	dalsens	dala	dalana

Synonyms

(none known)