goyal

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Jim Land - 28 Aug 2004 06:10 GMT

In Arthur Conan Doyle's "Hound of the Baskervilles" (1901) he uses the word
"goyal" in Chapter 2. The meaning is pretty clear from the context:

"...a deep dip or goyal, as we call it, upon the moor..."

What puzzles me is that "goyal" appears in none of the dictionaries on the
web.

Anyone have an OED to check? Or is this just an expression local to
Devonshire?

Thanks in advance.

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David - 28 Aug 2004 09:08 GMT

> In Arthur Conan Doyle's "Hound of the Baskervilles" (1901) he uses
> the word "goyal" in Chapter 2. The meaning is pretty clear from the
> context:

> "...a deep dip or goyal, as we call it, upon the moor..."

> What puzzles me is that "goyal" appears in none of the dictionaries
> on the web.

> Anyone have an OED to check? Or is this just an expression local to
> Devonshire?

NSOED has it as dialect, also (earlier) "goyle", early 17th century,
[origin unknown], a deep gully, a ravine.

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Discussion Groups / British English / August 2004

goyal