Coverdale

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An English Protestant reformer and clergyman of the 16th century, best known for producing an early printed English translation of the Bible
2. A 16th-century English religious figure who created one of the earliest complete English Bible translations and served as a bishop
3. An English biblical scholar and translator from the Reformation era who compiled and translated scriptures into vernacular English

Etymology: Coverdale is less a word with a history of its own than a place name built from two parts that each carry their own meaning. In North Yorkshire, the valley takes its name from the River Cover, joined to "dale," the English word for a valley. The river's name is the older element, and the dale simply describes the landscape it runs through: a valley shaped by water. The name also travelled across the Atlantic. In New Brunswick, Canada, the civil parish of Coverdale bears the name of a former name of the Little River, so the same pattern of a watercourse plus a valley term appears in a settlement thousands of miles from Yorkshire.