Etymology: Probably partly (i) (in early use in sense A. 1) < water n. + Old English gefeall ( < y- prefix + fall n.², after yfall v.), and partly (ii) < water n. + fall n.² Compare Dutch waterval rapids of a stream or river (1509 as †vaterval), (now chiefly) cascade of water falling from a height (1655), and also Middle High German (rare) wazzerval (German Wasserfall), Old Icelandic vatnfall, both in sense ‘cascade of water falling from a height’.In early use attested chiefly in place names, local surnames, and related topographical contexts; in quot. OE at sense A. 1a as a boundary marker in an Anglo-Saxon charter. The precise sense of the word in these early attestations is often difficult to determine with certainty, and it is possible that some instances may perhaps denote rapids (sense A. 4) rather than cascades (sense A. 1a); even where it is possible to identify the stream or river in question, its course has sometimes changed over time. With the Old English form wætergefeal compare early forms of the place name Watervale, Devon (1167–8 as Waterfale ; also Watrifalla (a1189), Waterifalla (1330)), named after a cascade on the River Lyd. Among other place names compare Waterfal , North Riding, Yorkshire (c1200, now Waterfall), Waterfal , Pontefract, West Riding, Yorkshire (c1204, now lost), and perhaps also Waterfala , Staffordshire (a1127; now Waterfall), apparently so named because the River Hamps disappears underground at this point of its course (the second element has alternatively been interpreted as showing Old English fealle trap (see fall n.¹)). Also attested early in surnames derived from place names, as Herbert de Waterfale (1167–8; the Devon location cited above), Robert de Waterfalle (1242), Henry de la Waterfalle (1316), Joh. atte Watirfal (1333), etc.

Etymology: < waterfall n.