combe

{{short description|Type of valley used in place names}}

{{other uses}}{{wikt}}

File:Combe_dreveneuse.jpg

A combe ({{IPAc-en|k|uː|m}}; also spelled coombe or coomb and, in place names, comb) can refer either to a steep, narrow valley, or to a small valley or large hollow on the side of a hill;{{cite encyclopedia |year= 2011 |title= Combe |encyclopedia= Merriam–Webster's Dictionary |publisher=Merriam–Webster |location= |url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/combe }}{{cite encyclopedia |year=2010 |title=Coomb |encyclopedia= Webster's New World College Dictionary |publisher=Wiley Publishing, Inc |location=Cleveland, Ohio |url=http://www.yourdictionary.com/coomb }} in any case, it is often understood simply to mean a small valley through which a watercourse does not run.{{cite encyclopedia |year= 2009 |title= Combe |encyclopedia= Encarta World English Dictionary: North American Edition |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing Plc |location= |url=http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/features/dictionary/DictionaryResults.aspx?refid=561502913 }}{{dead link|date=January 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}{{cite encyclopedia |year=2010 |title=Coomb |encyclopedia=Collins Pocket English Dictionary |publisher=HarperCollins Publishers Ltd |url=http://www.collinslanguage.com/results.aspx?context=3&reversed=False&action=define&homonym=0&text=coomb |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20111018051032/http://collinslanguage.com/results.aspx?context=3&reversed=False&action=define&homonym=0&text=coomb |archivedate=2011-10-18 }}

The word "combe" derives from Old English cumb and is unrelated to the English word "comb".{{cite encyclopedia |year= |title =Comb |encyclopedia=Century Dictionary |publisher= |location= |url= }} From Middle English coumbe, cumbe, from Old English cumb, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *kumbaz; compare Dutch kom (“bowl, basin”), German Kump (“vessel”). Related to Welsh cwm (“a hollow valley”), of identical meaning, through Proto-Indo-European *ḱumbʰ-.{{cite book |last1=Gooden |first1=Phillip |title=The Story of English |date=2009 |publisher=Quercus |page=22 |isbn=9781847242723 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RqFvXH9yUz8C&dq=cwm&pg=PA42 |access-date=27 December 2021}}

Today, the word is used mostly in reference to the combes of southern

{{cite encyclopedia

|year= 2010 |title= Coombe

|encyclopedia= Compact Oxford English Dictionary

|publisher= Oxford University Press |location=

|url= http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/combe?view=uk

|archive-url= https://archive.today/20140127235358/http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/combe?view=uk

|url-status= dead

|archive-date= January 27, 2014

| quote = A short valley or hollow on a hillside or coastline, especially in southern England.

}}

and southwestern England.