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Origin and history of ravine

ravine(n.)

1760, "long deep gorge worn by a stream or torrent of water," from French ravin "a gully" (1680s, from Old French raviner "to pillage; to sweep down, cascade"), and from French ravine "violent rush of water, gully worn by a torrent" (from Old French ravine "violent rush of water, waterfall; avalanche; robbery, rapine"). The French noun and verb both are ultimately from Latin rapina "act of robbery, plundering" (see rapine) with sense influenced by Latin rapidus "rapid."

Ravine appears in an English dictionary 1610s as "a raging flood." Middle English ravin, ravine meant "booty, plunder, robbery" from c. 1350-1500, an earlier borrowing of the French word. Compare raven (v.), ravening.

also from 1760

Entries linking to ravine

rapine(n.)

"plunder; the violent seizure and carrying off of property," early 15c., from Old French rapine (12c.) and directly from Latin rapina "act of robbery, plundering, pillage," from rapere "seize, carry off, rob" (see rapid).

raven(v.)

"to prey, to plunder, devour greedily," mid-14c., also ravine, from Old French raviner, ravinier "to seize, pillage; to sweep down, cascade," from Latin rapina "an act of robbery, plundering," from rapere "seize, carry off, rob" (see rapid). Related: Ravened; ravening. Obsolete except as a past-participle adjective.

ravening(adj.)

"voracious, savage," late 14c., present-participle adjective from an extinct verb ravine, raven "to prey, to plunder, devour greedily" (mid-14c.), from Old French raviner, ravinier "to seize, pillage" (see raven (v.)). It is etymologically related to ravenous, but not to raven (n.). Related: Raveningly.

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    Trends of ravine

    adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

    More to explore

    ravenous
    people, "rapacious, violent," of water, "swift-flowing," from raviner "to seize, pillage; to sweep down, cascade," from ravine...
    bridge
    [structure that affords passage over a ravine or river] Middle English brigge, from Old English brycge, from Proto-Germanic...
    nature
    prayer, Who trusted God was love indeed And love Creation's final law— Tho' Nature, red in tooth and claw With ravine...
    gorge
    mid-14c., "throat," from Old French gorge "throat; a narrow passage" (12c.), from Late Latin gurges "gullet, throat, jaws," also "gulf, whirlpool," which probably is related to Latin gurgulio "gullet, windpipe," from a reduplicated form of PIE root *gwora- "food, devouring." Tran
    vale
    river-land between two ranges of hills, early 14c., from Old French val "valley, vale" (12c.), from Latin vallem (nominative vallis, valles) "valley" (see valley). Now "little used except in poetry" [Century Dictionary]. Vale of years "old age" is from "Othello." Vale of tears "t
    veal
    late 14c., "calf meat as food," from Anglo-French vel, Old French veel "a calf" (12c., Modern French veau), earlier vedel, from Latin vitellus "a little calf," diminutive of vitulus "calf," perhaps originally "yearling," if related, as some think, to Sanskrit vatsah "calf," liter
    valley
    c. 1300, from Anglo-French valey, Old French valee "a valley" (12c.), from Vulgar Latin *vallata, from Latin vallis "valley," of unknown origin. Valley Girl (in reference to San Fernando Valley of California) was popularized 1982 in song by Frank Zappa and his daughter. Valley of
    canon
    "a rule or law," Old English canon "rule, law, or decree of the Church," from Old French canon or directly from Late Latin canon "Church law, a rule or doctrine enacted by ecclesiastical authority," in classical Latin, "measuring line, rule," from Greek kanon "any straight rod or
    canyon
    "narrow valley between cliffs," 1834, from Mexican Spanish cañon, extended sense of Spanish cañon "a pipe, tube; deep hollow, gorge," augmentative of cano "a tube," from Latin canna "reed" (see cane (n.)). But earlier spelling callon (1560s) might suggest a source in calle "stree
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    Dictionary entries near ravine
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