DOWN  , a smooth rounded

hill, or more particularly an expanse of high rolling ground bare of trees . The word comes from the Old English dun, hill . This is usually taken to be a Celtic word . The Gaelic and Irish dun and Welsh din are specifically used of a hill-fortress, and thus frequently appear in place-names, e.g . Dumbarton, Dunkeld, and in the Latinized termination—dunum, e.g . Lugdunum, Lyons . The Old Dutch dung, which is the same word, was applied to the drifted sandhills which are a prevailing feature of the south-eastern coast of the North Sea (Denmark and the Low Countries), and the derivatives, Ger . Dune, modern Dutch duin, Fr. dune, have this particular meaning . The English " dune " is directly taken from the French . The low sandy tracts north and south of Yarmouth, Norfolk, are known as the " Dunes," which may be a corruption of the Dutch or French words . From " down," hill, comes the adverb " down," from above, in the earlier form " adown," i.e. off the hill . The word for the soft under plumage of birds is entirely different, and comes from the Old Norwegian dun, cf. cedar-dun, eider-down .

For the

system of chalk hills in England known as " The Downs " see Downs .