Den, Dene, Depression, Dike: Origins, Forms, Histories of Words Meaning Valley, 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 next words are these: den, dene, depression, and dike. 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.

Den
Modern English den comes from Middle English den (13th century), from Old English denn (before 12th century). The word is akin to Old English denu ("valley") and Old High German tenni ("threshing floor").

The original meaning of den is the lair of a wild animal (c. 1000).

A hollow or a cavern, that is, a type of place often used as an animal lair, is a den (before 1300).

In British, especially Scottish, dialect, a narrow ravine or a deep hollow between hills is a den (1552).

Dene
Modern English dene (pronounced deen) comes from Middle English dene, from Old English dene and denu (both before 12th century). The word is akin to Old English denn ("den"). A variant spelling since the 18th century is dean.

In British English, a deep, wooded valley, especially one with a stream flowing through it, is a dene (before 12th century).

Depression
The noun depression (14th century) comes from the verb depress (14th century), which goes back through Middle French depresser to Latin depressus, the past participle of deprimere ("to press down"), from de- ("down") plus premere ("to press").

A depressed or sunken formation in the ground, that is, a hollow, is a depression (1665).

Dike
Modern English dike comes from Middle English dike (14th century), dyk (14th century), and dik (13th century). Dike probably comes from Old Norse dik ("ditch") and Middle Low German dik ("dam"). The word is akin to Old English dic ("ditch"). A variant modern spelling is dyke (14th century).

In ancient times, a ditch or trench was commonly used as the boundary of a piece of land, as the fence of an enclosure, as a defense for a camp, and for similar purposes. Such a hollow dug out of the ground was called in Old English a dic (9th century).

In such excavations, of course, water tends to gather and flow. Therefore, a second sense of dic arose: a hollow dug out of the ground specifically for the purpose of conducting water (9th century).

During the Middle English period, the word dike came to be applied to such an artificial watercourse. Later, dike came to denote a natural channel functioning the same way (1616).
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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.