vale of tears

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• Received-Pronunciation: /ˈveɪl əv ˈtɪəz/
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• General-American: /ˈveɪl əv ˈtɪɚz/
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• Australia: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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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.

24 source translations are retained for this English entry.

• Arabic: وادِي دُمُوعٍ (wādī dumūʕin) — the world as the place where difficulties and the sorrows of life are felt
• Basque: negarrezko haran — the world as the place where difficulties and the sorrows of life are felt
• Bulgarian: юдо́л плаче́вна (judól plačévna) — the world as the place where difficulties and the sorrows of life are felt
• Czech: slzavé údolí — the world as the place where difficulties and the sorrows of life are felt
• Dutch: tranendal — the world as the place where difficulties and the sorrows of life are felt
• Finnish: murheen laakso — the world as the place where difficulties and the sorrows of life are felt
• French: vallée de misère — the world as the place where difficulties and the sorrows of life are felt
• German: Jammertal — the world as the place where difficulties and the sorrows of life are felt
• German: Tal der Tränen — the world as the place where difficulties and the sorrows of life are felt
• Hungarian: siralomvölgy — the world as the place where difficulties and the sorrows of life are felt
• Icelandic: táradalur — the world as the place where difficulties and the sorrows of life are felt
• Italian: valle di lacrime — the world as the place where difficulties and the sorrows of life are felt
• Polish: ziemski padół — the world as the place where difficulties and the sorrows of life are felt
• Polish: dolina łez — the world as the place where difficulties and the sorrows of life are felt
• Polish: dolina płaczu — the world as the place where difficulties and the sorrows of life are felt
• Polish: padół łez — the world as the place where difficulties and the sorrows of life are felt
• Polish: padół płaczu — the world as the place where difficulties and the sorrows of life are felt
• Portuguese: vale de lágrimas — the world as the place where difficulties and the sorrows of life are felt
• Romanian: valea plângerii — the world as the place where difficulties and the sorrows of life are felt
• Russian: юдо́ль (judólʹ) — the world as the place where difficulties and the sorrows of life are felt
• Serbo-Croatian: dolina suza — the world as the place where difficulties and the sorrows of life are felt
• Spanish: valle de lágrimas — the world as the place where difficulties and the sorrows of life are felt
• Swedish: jämmerdal — the world as the place where difficulties and the sorrows of life are felt
• Swedish: tåredal — the world as the place where difficulties and the sorrows of life are felt