avalanche: [18] Not surprisingly, avalanche originated in the Alps. The French dialect of Savoy, an area near the Italian border in the western Alps, had a term lavantse, apparently derived from a Vulgar Latin *labanca (whence Provençal lavanca). Through association with the verb avaler ‘descend’ (see DOWN), this underwent metathesis (transposition of l and v) to produce in the Romansh language of Switzerland avalantze, which was borrowed into French as avalanche.
