Spanish substrate/A

[Larry Trask]

On Wed, 17 Mar 1999, Max W Wheeler wrote:

> Tell us what a box canyon is. Are there such things in Europe?

My dictionary asserts that a box canyon, in the western US, is a canyon
with vertical walls.  But that's not quite what it means to me (an
easterner): for me, a box canyon is a canyon enclosed on three sides and
open only at one end.

Box canyons in this sense are numerous in Hollywood westerns of the
1940s.  Just how many there might be in any part of the world, I can't
tell you.

Larry Trask
COGS
University of Sussex
Brighton BN1 9QH
UK

larryt at cogs.susx.ac.uk