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prettygoodwordTheme week! This is vaguely inspired by running winterbourne a few months ago -- a week of words for washes, which is to say any sort of intermittent watercourse, starting with the one used most commonly in my area:
arroyo (uh-ROI-oh) - (chiefly SW US) n., a flat-bedded stream that flows temporarily or seasonally; also, any watercourse.
In southern Arizona, a dry bed with steeper banks is more likely to be called an arroyo while one with gentler banks is more likely to be called a wash, but don't count on that usage to be consistent, nor followed in other locations. This one in our southern exurb could be called either:
Thanks, WikiMedia!
This has been used in the region since the late 18th century and is, unsurprisingly, from Spanish -- though in mainline Spanish, it's any stream or brook, whether it flows temporarily or all-year. The origin is a little obscure, but it seems to be from Vulgar Latin *arrugium (attested in re-Latinized form as arogium), originally gold mine, then apparently underground passage and by extension any natural or artificial passage, from Latin arrūgia, mineshaft, of unknown origin (possibly PIE root, possibly Punic?).
---L.
arroyo (uh-ROI-oh) - (chiefly SW US) n., a flat-bedded stream that flows temporarily or seasonally; also, any watercourse.
In southern Arizona, a dry bed with steeper banks is more likely to be called an arroyo while one with gentler banks is more likely to be called a wash, but don't count on that usage to be consistent, nor followed in other locations. This one in our southern exurb could be called either:
Thanks, WikiMedia!
This has been used in the region since the late 18th century and is, unsurprisingly, from Spanish -- though in mainline Spanish, it's any stream or brook, whether it flows temporarily or all-year. The origin is a little obscure, but it seems to be from Vulgar Latin *arrugium (attested in re-Latinized form as arogium), originally gold mine, then apparently underground passage and by extension any natural or artificial passage, from Latin arrūgia, mineshaft, of unknown origin (possibly PIE root, possibly Punic?).
---L.
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Date: 2023-06-26 05:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-06-26 06:06 pm (UTC)Funnily enough, that's tomorrow's word. Also on tap are names from south Asia and South Africa.