Incline, Knoll, Lith, Mesa: Origins, Forms, Histories of Words Meaning Hill or Slope

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.

Hill and slopes, for example, 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: inclination, incline, knoll, lith, and mesa. 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.

Inclination
Modern English inclination comes from various Middle English spellings of the word, such as inclinacioun. The word entered Middle English in the 14th century from Middle French inclination, which goes back through several Latin forms to the verb inclinare ("to incline"), based on in- ("into, toward") and clinare ("to lean").

The English word has had many meanings relating to the act of inclining or bending.

One of those senses pertains to topography: an inclined surface, a slope (1841).

Incline
The verb incline entered Middle English in the 14th century from Middle French incliner, from Latin inclinare ("to incline").

From the English verb comes the topographical noun incline: an inclined plane, grade, or slope (1846).

Knoll
Modern English knoll comes from Middle English knol (13th century), from Old English cnoll (before 1100). The word is akin to Old Norse knollr ("mountaintop") and Old English cnotta ("knot").

The original meaning of knoll was the summit or rounded top of a mountain or hill (c. 888). This use of the word is now obsolete except in some dialects in England.

The principal use of the word today is to denote a small round hill, hillock, or mound (c. 1000).

Lith
Lith is an obsolete word whose Old English and Old Norse form was hlith, of Germanic origin.

The word denoted a slope and is still found in place-names in England.

For example, Lytham St. Anne's, a seaside resort in northwest England, was formerly two separate towns, Lytham and St. Anne's. The name Lytham is based on Old English hlithum, the dative plural of hlith, so that the original meaning of the name was "(place) at the slopes," the area having many slopes created by its coastal dunes.

Mesa
The hill-related word mesa entered English in the 18th century as a borrowing from Spanish mesa. The literal meaning of the Spanish word is "table," as in its Latin source, mensa.

A topographical mesa is so named because of its tablelike appearance: an isolated, relatively flat-topped, extensive natural elevation (1759).
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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.