Lodge, Low Country, Lowland, Mine, Moat: Words Meaning Valley, Cave

Valleys, caves, related natural features, and human-made structures having similar topographic effects are known by many different words in English. In the current alphabetic series of such terms, the next examples are lodge, low country, lowland, mine, and moat.

Lodge
Modern English lodge comes from Middle English lodge (15th century) and loge (13th century), from Old French loge. The word is of Germanic origin and is akin to Old High German louba ("porch").

The original meaning of lodge, now mostly dialectal, is a rough shelter or hut (1290).

The den or lair of some wild animals is known as a lodge (1567). Beavers, for example, live in a cavelike dome-shaped stick-and-mud lodge with tunnel entrances.

Low Country
Low country is a simple combination of low and country.

A region whose level is lower than that of the surrounding land is a low country (15th century).

In the United States, this term is used especially in southern states to denote an area extending from the seacoast inland to the fall line.

The region bordering the North Sea and comprising modern Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg is called the Low Countries.

Lowland
Lowland is a simple combination of low and land.

Land on a lower level than adjoining districts is a lowland (15th century).

The less mountainous region of Scotland, south and east of the Highlands, is called the Lowlands.

Mine
The Modern English noun mine comes from Middle English mine (14th century), from Middle French, from (assumed) Vulgar Latin mina. The word is probably of Celtic origin and is akin to Welsh mwyn ("ore").

A pit or excavation in the earth from which mineral substances are taken is a mine (1303).

Moat
Modern English moat (17th century) comes from Middle English mote (14th century), probably from Middle French motte ("mound"), from Old French mote.

A deep and wide trench, usually filled with water, that surrounds the rampart of a castle or other fortified place is a moat (1362). The word also denotes natural features resembling the fortification moat, such as a ravine around a place of habitation, a margin around a receding glacier, and a channel around the inner core of a volcano.
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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.