thalweg

English

WOTD – 23 September 2009

Borrowed from 19th century German Thalweg, from Thal (“valley”) +‎ Weg (“way, course”).

(UK) IPA^(key): /ˈtaːlvɛç/, /ˈtɑːlvɛɡ/, /ˈθɑːlwɛɡ/^[1] ^[2]
- Audio (Southern England): (file)
(US) IPA^(key): /ˈtɑl.vɛɡ/

thalweg (plural thalwege or thalwegs)

(geology, geography, cartography) The line that connects the lowest points in a valley or river channel, and thus the line of fastest flow or deepest water along a river’s course.

The alternative spelling talweg is consistent with the German spelling reform of 1901. ^[1]

line that connects the lowest points in a valley or river channel

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 “thalweg” listed in the Oxford English Dictionary [2^nd Ed.; 1989]
^ “Archived copy”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name)‎^[1], 2020 May 16 (last accessed), archived from the original on 4 February 2022

2005, Ed. Catherine Soanes and Angus Stevenson, The Oxford Dictionary of English (2nd edition revised), Oxford University Press, →ISBN
2004, Susan Mayhew, A Dictionary of Geography, Oxford University Press, →ISBN

Borrowed from German Talweg prior to the 1901 spelling reform (see etymology of English entry).

thalweg m (plural thalwegs)

thalweg
- 1903, M. Huguet, “Les Conditions Générales de la vie au Mzab”, in Bulletins et mémoires de la Société d'anthropologie de Paris, volume 4, page 220:
  […] la route laisse sur la gauche le thalweg de l’Oued Soudan […]
  (please add an English translation of this quotation)

thalweg m (plural thalwegs)