"vale of tears" meaning in All languages combined

See vale of tears on Wiktionary

Noun [English]

IPA: /ˈveɪl əv ˈtɪəz/ [Received-Pronunciation], /ˈveɪl əv ˈtɪɚz/ [General-American] Audio: En-au-vale of tears.ogg Forms: vales of tears [plural], or poetic [literary, often]
Etymology: Calque of Latin lacrimārum vallis from the “Salve Regina” (a hymn to the Virgin Mary), based on Hebrew עמק הבכא (ʿēmeq habbāḵāʾ) from Psalm 84:6 of the Bible. The Hebrew term may mean “valley of the baka tree”, a tree of uncertain species (compare 2 Samuel 5:23–24 where baka is used to refer to a tree, and is often translated into English as “balsam tree”, “mulberry tree”, or “poplar tree”), but ancient Greek translations assumed the word intended was בָּכָה (bakhá, “to cry, weep”) and so rendered the term as “valley of weeping”, which was then used in Latin and English translations. See, for example, the Douay–Rheims Bible (1610) where the verse is numbered as Psalm 83:6. Etymology templates: {{calque|en|la|lacrimārum vallis}} Calque of Latin lacrimārum vallis, {{der|en|he|עמק הבכא|tr=ʿēmeq habbāḵāʾ}} Hebrew עמק הבכא (ʿēmeq habbāḵāʾ), {{nb...|Diligently Conferred with the Hebrew, Greeke and Other Editions in Diuerse Languages. 􂀿...􂁀}} […], {{nb...|at the signe of the Holie Lambe.}} […] Head templates: {{en-noun|vales of tears}} vale of tears (plural vales of tears)
  1. (in the singular) The world, a place where difficulties and the sorrows of life are felt, especially (Christianity) as a place to be left behind when one dies and goes to heaven. Tags: idiomatic, singular Categories (topical): Christianity Categories (place): Valleys Related terms: valley of the shadow of death Translations (the world as the place where difficulties and the sorrows of life are felt): وادِي دُمُوعٍ (wādī dumūʕin) [masculine] (Arabic), negarrezko haran (Basque), юдо́л плаче́вна (judól plačévna) (Bulgarian), slzavé údolí [neuter] (Czech), tranendal [neuter] (Dutch), murheen laakso (Finnish), vallée de misère [feminine] (French), Jammertal [neuter] (German), Tal der Tränen [neuter] (German), siralomvölgy (Hungarian), táradalur [masculine] (Icelandic), valle di lacrime [feminine] (Italian), ziemski padół [masculine] (Polish), dolina łez [feminine] (Polish), dolina płaczu [feminine] (Polish), padół łez [masculine] (Polish), padół płaczu [masculine] (Polish), vale de lágrimas [masculine] (Portuguese), valea plângerii [feminine] (Romanian), юдо́ль (judólʹ) [feminine] (Russian), dolina suza [feminine] (Serbo-Croatian), valle de lágrimas [masculine] (Spanish), jämmerdal [common-gender] (Swedish), tåredal [archaic, common-gender] (Swedish)
    Sense id: en-vale_of_tears-en-noun-7KfRickF Disambiguation of Valleys: 69 31 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English entries with language name categories using raw markup, English entries with topic categories using raw markup, English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys, Pages with raw sortkeys, Terms with Arabic translations, Terms with Basque translations, Terms with Bulgarian translations, Terms with Czech translations, Terms with Dutch translations, Terms with Finnish translations, Terms with French translations, Terms with German translations, Terms with Hungarian translations, Terms with Icelandic translations, Terms with Italian translations, Terms with Polish translations, Terms with Portuguese translations, Terms with Romanian translations, Terms with Russian translations, Terms with Serbo-Croatian translations, Terms with Spanish translations, Terms with Swedish translations Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 90 10 Disambiguation of English entries with language name categories using raw markup: 88 12 Disambiguation of English entries with topic categories using raw markup: 85 15 Disambiguation of English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys: 85 15 Disambiguation of Pages with raw sortkeys: 80 20 Disambiguation of Terms with Arabic translations: 78 22 Disambiguation of Terms with Basque translations: 77 23 Disambiguation of Terms with Bulgarian translations: 75 25 Disambiguation of Terms with Czech translations: 67 33 Disambiguation of Terms with Dutch translations: 78 22 Disambiguation of Terms with Finnish translations: 75 25 Disambiguation of Terms with French translations: 80 20 Disambiguation of Terms with German translations: 78 22 Disambiguation of Terms with Hungarian translations: 67 33 Disambiguation of Terms with Icelandic translations: 77 23 Disambiguation of Terms with Italian translations: 83 17 Disambiguation of Terms with Polish translations: 65 35 Disambiguation of Terms with Portuguese translations: 74 26 Disambiguation of Terms with Romanian translations: 75 25 Disambiguation of Terms with Russian translations: 83 17 Disambiguation of Terms with Serbo-Croatian translations: 75 25 Disambiguation of Terms with Spanish translations: 87 13 Disambiguation of Terms with Swedish translations: 78 22 Disambiguation of 'the world as the place where difficulties and the sorrows of life are felt': 92 8
  2. A particular place of sorrow or suffering. Tags: idiomatic
    Sense id: en-vale_of_tears-en-noun-H67akYgK

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

Download JSON data for vale of tears meaning in All languages combined (17.0kB)

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          "_dis": "69 31",
          "kind": "place",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Valleys",
          "orig": "en:Valleys",
          "parents": [
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            "Water",
            "Names",
            "Liquids",
            "All topics",
            "Proper nouns",
            "Terms by semantic function",
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            "Nouns",
            "Chemistry",
            "Nature",
            "Lemmas",
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        {
          "ref": "1654, Samuel Clark[e], “The Life of Vitus Theodorus, who Dyed Anno Christi 1549”, in The Marrow of Ecclesiastical History, Contained in the Lives of One Hundred Forty Eight Fathers, Schoolmen, First Reformers, and Modern Divines which Have Flourished in the Church since Christ’s Time to this Present Age: […], 2nd enlarged edition, London: Printed for T. V. and are to be sold by William Roybould […], →OCLC, page 323",
          "text": "He [Vitus Theodorus] was called to be a Paſtor at Norinberg, his own country, [...] till it pleaſed God to put an end to his labors, by tranſlating him out of this vale of tears into his Everlaſting Kingdom, Anno Chriſti 1549.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1708 June 4, [Urith Bunchley], A Funeral Sermon upon the Death of Mrs. Urith Bunchley, Daughter to Sir Austin Palgrave, Bart. who Departed this Life May the 21st. Preached at Clavering in Essex, May the 24th, 1708 [Julian calendar]. […] By a Presbyter of the Church of England, London: Printed for S. Bunchley, and are to be sold by J[ohn] Morphew, […], →OCLC, page 10",
          "text": "While we ſojourn in this vale of Tears and Sorrow, we are detain'd from the bleſſ'd Sight and Enjoyment of God; and kept from the Happineſs of juſt Men made perfect.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1749, Miguel Cervantes de Saavedra, “Of the Strange Adventure, which Befel the Valorous Don Quixote with the Wain or Cart of the Parliament of Death”, in Charles Jarvis, transl., The Life and Exploits of the Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote de la Mancha. Translated from the Original Spanish […], 2nd edition, volume II, London: Printed for J[acob] and R[ichard] Tonson and S. Draper […], and R[obert] Dodsley […], →OCLC, page 57",
          "text": "But let us recommend all to god, who alone know what ſhall befal in this vale of tears, this evil world we have here, in which there is ſcarce any thing to be found without ſome mixture of iniquity, impoſture, or knavery.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1853, Leigh Hunt, “[Exercises of the Heart in Its Duties and Aspirations.] XXI. Of Tears and Laughter.”, in The Religion of the Heart. A Manual of Faith and Duty. […], London: John Chapman, […], →OCLC, page 61",
          "text": "We must not call earth a vale of tears. It is neither pious to do so, nor in any respect proper. We might as well, nay, with far greater propriety, call it a field of laughter.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1983, Umberto Eco, “In which Adso Receives the Confidences of Salvatore, which Cannot be Summarized in a Few Words, but which Cause Him Long and Concerned Meditation”, in William Weaver, transl., The Name of the Rose: Translated from the Italian, London: Secker & Warburg; republished London: Vintage Books, 2004, page 180",
          "text": "Driven by such a hope, as if refusing to recognize this world as a vale of tears where (as they taught me) even injustice is foreordained by Providence to maintain the balance of things, whose design often eludes us, Salvatore journeyed through various lands, from his native Montferrat toward Liguria, then up through Provence into the lands of the King of France.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1999, Dwain Campbell, “Prologue”, in Tales from the Frozen Ocean, St. John’s, Nfld.: Jesperson Publishing, page 10",
          "text": "So it was steady as she goes as Sally was hustled into bed, and on the stroke of twelve a fourth Aintree child entered this vale of tears.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2005, Daniel Hillel, “Epilogue: The Lasting Relevance of Early Ecological Influences”, in The Natural History of the Bible: An Environmental Exploration of the Hebrew Scriptures, New York, N.Y., Chichester, West Sussex: Columbia University Press, page 227",
          "text": "As we devour the Earth's resources and despoil the environment, we are driving ourselves into a metaphoric vale of tears.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
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      "glosses": [
        "The world, a place where difficulties and the sorrows of life are felt, especially (Christianity) as a place to be left behind when one dies and goes to heaven."
      ],
      "id": "en-vale_of_tears-en-noun-7KfRickF",
      "links": [
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          "singular"
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        [
          "world",
          "world"
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        [
          "place",
          "place#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "difficulties",
          "difficulty"
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        [
          "sorrows",
          "sorrow#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "life",
          "life"
        ],
        [
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          "feel#Verb"
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        [
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          "Christianity"
        ],
        [
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          "leave behind"
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        [
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          "die#Verb"
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          "heaven"
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        "(in the singular) The world, a place where difficulties and the sorrows of life are felt, especially (Christianity) as a place to be left behind when one dies and goes to heaven."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "_dis1": "70 30",
          "word": "valley of the shadow of death"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "singular"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "92 8",
          "code": "ar",
          "lang": "Arabic",
          "roman": "wādī dumūʕin",
          "sense": "the world as the place where difficulties and the sorrows of life are felt",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "وادِي دُمُوعٍ"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "92 8",
          "code": "eu",
          "lang": "Basque",
          "sense": "the world as the place where difficulties and the sorrows of life are felt",
          "word": "negarrezko haran"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "92 8",
          "code": "bg",
          "lang": "Bulgarian",
          "roman": "judól plačévna",
          "sense": "the world as the place where difficulties and the sorrows of life are felt",
          "word": "юдо́л плаче́вна"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "92 8",
          "code": "cs",
          "lang": "Czech",
          "sense": "the world as the place where difficulties and the sorrows of life are felt",
          "tags": [
            "neuter"
          ],
          "word": "slzavé údolí"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "92 8",
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "sense": "the world as the place where difficulties and the sorrows of life are felt",
          "tags": [
            "neuter"
          ],
          "word": "tranendal"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "92 8",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "the world as the place where difficulties and the sorrows of life are felt",
          "word": "murheen laakso"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "92 8",
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "the world as the place where difficulties and the sorrows of life are felt",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "vallée de misère"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "92 8",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "the world as the place where difficulties and the sorrows of life are felt",
          "tags": [
            "neuter"
          ],
          "word": "Jammertal"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "92 8",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "the world as the place where difficulties and the sorrows of life are felt",
          "tags": [
            "neuter"
          ],
          "word": "Tal der Tränen"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "92 8",
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "sense": "the world as the place where difficulties and the sorrows of life are felt",
          "word": "siralomvölgy"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "92 8",
          "code": "is",
          "lang": "Icelandic",
          "sense": "the world as the place where difficulties and the sorrows of life are felt",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "táradalur"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "92 8",
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "the world as the place where difficulties and the sorrows of life are felt",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "valle di lacrime"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "92 8",
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "the world as the place where difficulties and the sorrows of life are felt",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "ziemski padół"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "92 8",
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "the world as the place where difficulties and the sorrows of life are felt",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "dolina łez"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "92 8",
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "the world as the place where difficulties and the sorrows of life are felt",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "dolina płaczu"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "92 8",
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "the world as the place where difficulties and the sorrows of life are felt",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "padół łez"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "92 8",
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "the world as the place where difficulties and the sorrows of life are felt",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "padół płaczu"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "92 8",
          "code": "pt",
          "lang": "Portuguese",
          "sense": "the world as the place where difficulties and the sorrows of life are felt",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "vale de lágrimas"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "92 8",
          "code": "ro",
          "lang": "Romanian",
          "sense": "the world as the place where difficulties and the sorrows of life are felt",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "valea plângerii"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "92 8",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "judólʹ",
          "sense": "the world as the place where difficulties and the sorrows of life are felt",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "юдо́ль"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "92 8",
          "code": "sh",
          "lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
          "sense": "the world as the place where difficulties and the sorrows of life are felt",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "dolina suza"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "92 8",
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "the world as the place where difficulties and the sorrows of life are felt",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "valle de lágrimas"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "92 8",
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "sense": "the world as the place where difficulties and the sorrows of life are felt",
          "tags": [
            "common-gender"
          ],
          "word": "jämmerdal"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "92 8",
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "sense": "the world as the place where difficulties and the sorrows of life are felt",
          "tags": [
            "archaic",
            "common-gender"
          ],
          "word": "tåredal"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "a. 1722, Matthew Prior, “Solomon on the Vanity of the World”, in The Poetical Works of Matthew Prior, Esq. […], Edinburgh: Printed by Mundell and Son, […], published 1793, →OCLC; republished in A Complete Edition of the Poets of Great Britain, volume VII, London: Printed for Iohn & Arthur Arch, […]; Edinburgh: Bell & Bradfute and I. Mundell & Co., 1793, →OCLC, book I (Knowledge), page 473, column 2",
          "text": "That, in this pilgrimage of ſeventy years, / O'er rocks of perils, and through vales of tears, / Deſtin'd to march, our doubtful ſteps we tend, / Tir'd with the toil, yet fearful of its end: [...]",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1772, Anna Lætitia Aikin [i.e., Anna Laetitia Barbauld], “An Address to the Deity”, in Poems, 3rd corrected edition, London: Printed for Joseph Johnson, […], published 1773, →OCLC, page 128",
          "text": "If, friendleſs, in a vale of tears I ſtray, / Where briers wound, and thorns perplex my way, / Still let my ſteady ſoul thy goodneſs ſee, / And with ſtrong confidence lay hold on thee; [...]",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1821, [Louise Demont], chapter XLII, in Voyages and Travels of Her Majesty, Caroline Queen of Great Britain: […], London: Printed for and published by Jones & Co. […], →OCLC, page 662",
          "text": "Jerusalem is the city of tombs; the valleys of Halcedoma and Jehoshephat are covered with them; and the living appear to have no other task assigned to them than that of keeping watch over these deposits of ashes. [...] Such are these places of lamentations—these vales of tears—these vast repositories of death.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1992, Kwame Anthony Appiah, “The Invention of Africa”, in In My Father’s House: Africa in the Philosophy of Culture, New York, N.Y., Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, page 23",
          "text": "[I]n the New World, Christianity had provided the major vehicle of cultural expression for the slaves. It could not be denied them in a Christian country—and it provided them with solace in their \"vale of tears,\" guiding them through \"the valley of the shadow.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A particular place of sorrow or suffering."
      ],
      "id": "en-vale_of_tears-en-noun-H67akYgK",
      "links": [
        [
          "suffering",
          "suffering#Noun"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈveɪl əv ˈtɪəz/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈveɪl əv ˈtɪɚz/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "En-au-vale of tears.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/6/6f/En-au-vale_of_tears.ogg/En-au-vale_of_tears.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6f/En-au-vale_of_tears.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Douay–Rheims Bible",
    "Mary, mother of Jesus",
    "Psalm 84",
    "Salve Regina"
  ],
  "word": "vale of tears"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English entries with language name categories using raw markup",
    "English entries with topic categories using raw markup",
    "English idioms",
    "English lemmas",
    "English literary terms",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "English poetic terms",
    "English terms calqued from Latin",
    "English terms derived from Hebrew",
    "English terms derived from Latin",
    "English terms derived from the Bible",
    "English terms with IPA pronunciation",
    "English terms with audio links",
    "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
    "Pages with raw sortkeys",
    "Terms with Arabic translations",
    "Terms with Basque translations",
    "Terms with Bulgarian translations",
    "Terms with Czech translations",
    "Terms with Dutch translations",
    "Terms with Finnish translations",
    "Terms with French translations",
    "Terms with German translations",
    "Terms with Hungarian translations",
    "Terms with Icelandic translations",
    "Terms with Italian translations",
    "Terms with Polish translations",
    "Terms with Portuguese translations",
    "Terms with Romanian translations",
    "Terms with Russian translations",
    "Terms with Serbo-Croatian translations",
    "Terms with Spanish translations",
    "Terms with Swedish translations",
    "en:Valleys"
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "la",
        "3": "lacrimārum vallis"
      },
      "expansion": "Calque of Latin lacrimārum vallis",
      "name": "calque"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "he",
        "3": "עמק הבכא",
        "tr": "ʿēmeq habbāḵāʾ"
      },
      "expansion": "Hebrew עמק הבכא (ʿēmeq habbāḵāʾ)",
      "name": "der"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "Diligently Conferred with the Hebrew, Greeke and Other Editions in Diuerse Languages. 􂀿...􂁀"
      },
      "expansion": "[…]",
      "name": "nb..."
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "at the signe of the Holie Lambe."
      },
      "expansion": "[…]",
      "name": "nb..."
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Calque of Latin lacrimārum vallis from the “Salve Regina” (a hymn to the Virgin Mary), based on Hebrew עמק הבכא (ʿēmeq habbāḵāʾ) from Psalm 84:6 of the Bible. The Hebrew term may mean “valley of the baka tree”, a tree of uncertain species (compare 2 Samuel 5:23–24 where baka is used to refer to a tree, and is often translated into English as “balsam tree”, “mulberry tree”, or “poplar tree”), but ancient Greek translations assumed the word intended was בָּכָה (bakhá, “to cry, weep”) and so rendered the term as “valley of weeping”, which was then used in Latin and English translations. See, for example, the Douay–Rheims Bible (1610) where the verse is numbered as Psalm 83:6.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "vales of tears",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "or poetic",
      "tags": [
        "literary",
        "often"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "vales of tears"
      },
      "expansion": "vale of tears (plural vales of tears)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "valley of the shadow of death"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "en:Christianity"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1654, Samuel Clark[e], “The Life of Vitus Theodorus, who Dyed Anno Christi 1549”, in The Marrow of Ecclesiastical History, Contained in the Lives of One Hundred Forty Eight Fathers, Schoolmen, First Reformers, and Modern Divines which Have Flourished in the Church since Christ’s Time to this Present Age: […], 2nd enlarged edition, London: Printed for T. V. and are to be sold by William Roybould […], →OCLC, page 323",
          "text": "He [Vitus Theodorus] was called to be a Paſtor at Norinberg, his own country, [...] till it pleaſed God to put an end to his labors, by tranſlating him out of this vale of tears into his Everlaſting Kingdom, Anno Chriſti 1549.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1708 June 4, [Urith Bunchley], A Funeral Sermon upon the Death of Mrs. Urith Bunchley, Daughter to Sir Austin Palgrave, Bart. who Departed this Life May the 21st. Preached at Clavering in Essex, May the 24th, 1708 [Julian calendar]. […] By a Presbyter of the Church of England, London: Printed for S. Bunchley, and are to be sold by J[ohn] Morphew, […], →OCLC, page 10",
          "text": "While we ſojourn in this vale of Tears and Sorrow, we are detain'd from the bleſſ'd Sight and Enjoyment of God; and kept from the Happineſs of juſt Men made perfect.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1749, Miguel Cervantes de Saavedra, “Of the Strange Adventure, which Befel the Valorous Don Quixote with the Wain or Cart of the Parliament of Death”, in Charles Jarvis, transl., The Life and Exploits of the Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote de la Mancha. Translated from the Original Spanish […], 2nd edition, volume II, London: Printed for J[acob] and R[ichard] Tonson and S. Draper […], and R[obert] Dodsley […], →OCLC, page 57",
          "text": "But let us recommend all to god, who alone know what ſhall befal in this vale of tears, this evil world we have here, in which there is ſcarce any thing to be found without ſome mixture of iniquity, impoſture, or knavery.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1853, Leigh Hunt, “[Exercises of the Heart in Its Duties and Aspirations.] XXI. Of Tears and Laughter.”, in The Religion of the Heart. A Manual of Faith and Duty. […], London: John Chapman, […], →OCLC, page 61",
          "text": "We must not call earth a vale of tears. It is neither pious to do so, nor in any respect proper. We might as well, nay, with far greater propriety, call it a field of laughter.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1983, Umberto Eco, “In which Adso Receives the Confidences of Salvatore, which Cannot be Summarized in a Few Words, but which Cause Him Long and Concerned Meditation”, in William Weaver, transl., The Name of the Rose: Translated from the Italian, London: Secker & Warburg; republished London: Vintage Books, 2004, page 180",
          "text": "Driven by such a hope, as if refusing to recognize this world as a vale of tears where (as they taught me) even injustice is foreordained by Providence to maintain the balance of things, whose design often eludes us, Salvatore journeyed through various lands, from his native Montferrat toward Liguria, then up through Provence into the lands of the King of France.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1999, Dwain Campbell, “Prologue”, in Tales from the Frozen Ocean, St. John’s, Nfld.: Jesperson Publishing, page 10",
          "text": "So it was steady as she goes as Sally was hustled into bed, and on the stroke of twelve a fourth Aintree child entered this vale of tears.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2005, Daniel Hillel, “Epilogue: The Lasting Relevance of Early Ecological Influences”, in The Natural History of the Bible: An Environmental Exploration of the Hebrew Scriptures, New York, N.Y., Chichester, West Sussex: Columbia University Press, page 227",
          "text": "As we devour the Earth's resources and despoil the environment, we are driving ourselves into a metaphoric vale of tears.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The world, a place where difficulties and the sorrows of life are felt, especially (Christianity) as a place to be left behind when one dies and goes to heaven."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "singular",
          "singular"
        ],
        [
          "world",
          "world"
        ],
        [
          "place",
          "place#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "difficulties",
          "difficulty"
        ],
        [
          "sorrows",
          "sorrow#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "life",
          "life"
        ],
        [
          "felt",
          "feel#Verb"
        ],
        [
          "Christianity",
          "Christianity"
        ],
        [
          "left behind",
          "leave behind"
        ],
        [
          "dies",
          "die#Verb"
        ],
        [
          "heaven",
          "heaven"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(in the singular) The world, a place where difficulties and the sorrows of life are felt, especially (Christianity) as a place to be left behind when one dies and goes to heaven."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "a. 1722, Matthew Prior, “Solomon on the Vanity of the World”, in The Poetical Works of Matthew Prior, Esq. […], Edinburgh: Printed by Mundell and Son, […], published 1793, →OCLC; republished in A Complete Edition of the Poets of Great Britain, volume VII, London: Printed for Iohn & Arthur Arch, […]; Edinburgh: Bell & Bradfute and I. Mundell & Co., 1793, →OCLC, book I (Knowledge), page 473, column 2",
          "text": "That, in this pilgrimage of ſeventy years, / O'er rocks of perils, and through vales of tears, / Deſtin'd to march, our doubtful ſteps we tend, / Tir'd with the toil, yet fearful of its end: [...]",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1772, Anna Lætitia Aikin [i.e., Anna Laetitia Barbauld], “An Address to the Deity”, in Poems, 3rd corrected edition, London: Printed for Joseph Johnson, […], published 1773, →OCLC, page 128",
          "text": "If, friendleſs, in a vale of tears I ſtray, / Where briers wound, and thorns perplex my way, / Still let my ſteady ſoul thy goodneſs ſee, / And with ſtrong confidence lay hold on thee; [...]",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1821, [Louise Demont], chapter XLII, in Voyages and Travels of Her Majesty, Caroline Queen of Great Britain: […], London: Printed for and published by Jones & Co. […], →OCLC, page 662",
          "text": "Jerusalem is the city of tombs; the valleys of Halcedoma and Jehoshephat are covered with them; and the living appear to have no other task assigned to them than that of keeping watch over these deposits of ashes. [...] Such are these places of lamentations—these vales of tears—these vast repositories of death.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1992, Kwame Anthony Appiah, “The Invention of Africa”, in In My Father’s House: Africa in the Philosophy of Culture, New York, N.Y., Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, page 23",
          "text": "[I]n the New World, Christianity had provided the major vehicle of cultural expression for the slaves. It could not be denied them in a Christian country—and it provided them with solace in their \"vale of tears,\" guiding them through \"the valley of the shadow.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A particular place of sorrow or suffering."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "suffering",
          "suffering#Noun"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈveɪl əv ˈtɪəz/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈveɪl əv ˈtɪɚz/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "En-au-vale of tears.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/6/6f/En-au-vale_of_tears.ogg/En-au-vale_of_tears.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6f/En-au-vale_of_tears.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "ar",
      "lang": "Arabic",
      "roman": "wādī dumūʕin",
      "sense": "the world as the place where difficulties and the sorrows of life are felt",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "وادِي دُمُوعٍ"
    },
    {
      "code": "eu",
      "lang": "Basque",
      "sense": "the world as the place where difficulties and the sorrows of life are felt",
      "word": "negarrezko haran"
    },
    {
      "code": "bg",
      "lang": "Bulgarian",
      "roman": "judól plačévna",
      "sense": "the world as the place where difficulties and the sorrows of life are felt",
      "word": "юдо́л плаче́вна"
    },
    {
      "code": "cs",
      "lang": "Czech",
      "sense": "the world as the place where difficulties and the sorrows of life are felt",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "slzavé údolí"
    },
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "the world as the place where difficulties and the sorrows of life are felt",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "tranendal"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "the world as the place where difficulties and the sorrows of life are felt",
      "word": "murheen laakso"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "the world as the place where difficulties and the sorrows of life are felt",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "vallée de misère"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "the world as the place where difficulties and the sorrows of life are felt",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "Jammertal"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "the world as the place where difficulties and the sorrows of life are felt",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "Tal der Tränen"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "sense": "the world as the place where difficulties and the sorrows of life are felt",
      "word": "siralomvölgy"
    },
    {
      "code": "is",
      "lang": "Icelandic",
      "sense": "the world as the place where difficulties and the sorrows of life are felt",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "táradalur"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "the world as the place where difficulties and the sorrows of life are felt",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "valle di lacrime"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "the world as the place where difficulties and the sorrows of life are felt",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "ziemski padół"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "the world as the place where difficulties and the sorrows of life are felt",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "dolina łez"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "the world as the place where difficulties and the sorrows of life are felt",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "dolina płaczu"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "the world as the place where difficulties and the sorrows of life are felt",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "padół łez"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "the world as the place where difficulties and the sorrows of life are felt",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "padół płaczu"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "sense": "the world as the place where difficulties and the sorrows of life are felt",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "vale de lágrimas"
    },
    {
      "code": "ro",
      "lang": "Romanian",
      "sense": "the world as the place where difficulties and the sorrows of life are felt",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "valea plângerii"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "judólʹ",
      "sense": "the world as the place where difficulties and the sorrows of life are felt",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "юдо́ль"
    },
    {
      "code": "sh",
      "lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
      "sense": "the world as the place where difficulties and the sorrows of life are felt",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "dolina suza"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "the world as the place where difficulties and the sorrows of life are felt",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "valle de lágrimas"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "the world as the place where difficulties and the sorrows of life are felt",
      "tags": [
        "common-gender"
      ],
      "word": "jämmerdal"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "the world as the place where difficulties and the sorrows of life are felt",
      "tags": [
        "archaic",
        "common-gender"
      ],
      "word": "tåredal"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Douay–Rheims Bible",
    "Mary, mother of Jesus",
    "Psalm 84",
    "Salve Regina"
  ],
  "word": "vale of tears"
}
{
  "called_from": "form_descriptions/1147",
  "msg": "suspicious related form tags ('literary', 'often'): 'or poetic' in 'vale of tears (plural vales of tears) (idiomatic, often literary or poetic)'",
  "path": [
    "vale of tears"
  ],
  "section": "English",
  "subsection": "noun",
  "title": "vale of tears",
  "trace": ""
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-06-19 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-06-06 using wiktextract (372f256 and 664a3bc). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.