Adit, Basin, Bottom, Bowl: Origins, Forms, Histories of Words Meaning Valley or Cave

The natural features of a region are called its topography. The word comes from Greek topos ("place").

English speakers have a long history of inventing (or borrowing from other languages) all sorts of different names for related topographical features.

Valleys and caves, for example, as well as human-made features having similar topographical effects, are known by a wide range of words in English, each with its own unique story to tell.

In the alphabetically arranged presentation of such terms in the current series, the first words are these: adit, basin, bottom, and bowl. Here is an overview of their origins, forms, and histories. The dates of first appearance of the forms and meanings are from the Oxford English Dictionary.

Adit
Adit entered English in the 17th century from Latin aditus ("approach, entrance"), from adire ("to go to, approach"), a combination of ad- ("to") and ire ("to go").

A horizontal, or nearly horizontal, passage leading from the surface into a mine is an adit (1602).

Basin
Modern English basin comes from Middle English basin (15th century), which derives from earlier Middle English forms, such as bascin (13th century). The Middle English word comes from Old French bacin, from Late Latin bacchinon. The earlier history of the word is uncertain, but bacchinon may go back through (assumed) Vulgar Latin bacca ("water vessel") to a non-Indo-European source.

The original meaning of basin is a hollow vessel (13th century).

Basin has acquired several topographical meanings pertaining to hollow or depressed land: a circular or oval valley or hollow; the entire tract of land drained by a river and its tributaries; and a broad area of the earth beneath which the strata dip from the sides toward the center (all senses, 19th century).

Bottom
Modern English bottom (16th century) comes from Middle English botme (15th century), from Old English botm (before 12th century). The word is akin to Old High German bodam ("bottom").

The basic meaning of bottom is the lowest surface or part of anything (before 12th century).

The word has also developed topographical senses. For example, a river basin or a stretch of low-lying land along a watercourse is a bottom (14th century).

A later synonymous term is bottomland (1728).

Bowl
Modern English bowl (17th century) comes from Middle English bolle (12th century), from Old English bolla (before 12th century). The word is akin to Old High German bolla ("blister").

The original meaning of bowl is a hemispherical vessel that holds liquids (before 12th century).

The word has also been extended to any natural formation or geographic region that resembles the shape of a bowl. A bowl-shaped basin, for example, has been termed a bowl since at least 1860.
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Encyclopaedia Britannica Ready Reference 2004. CD-ROM. Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2004.

Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary. 11th ed. Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 2006.

Merriam-Webster's Geographical Dictionary. 3rd ed. Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 2007.

The Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd ed. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press, 1989.