Cumberland Plateau
- proper noun
- /ˈkʌmbərlənd plæˈtoʊ/
:
Meseta Cumberland
- But I may as well say here and now that no other group of girls ever had quite the same devastating effect upon me as did the girls at the summer resort at Owl Mountain Springs, a pretty little sylvan retreat perched high on the bluffs of the Cumberland Plateau in Middle Tennessee.
- Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee
Examples
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The Cumberland Plateau has more species and larger trees than my Allegheny Plateau.
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Born on the banks of the Ohio in Owensboro, Kentucky, at age twelve, I moved with my family to a small town at the foot of the Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee—a place called Cowan.
Blog text (1) -
In Tennessee, a coalition led by the state and The Nature Conservancy acquired nearly 130,000 acres on the Cumberland Plateau, an area highlighted in the state plan for its high biodiversity.
Academic text (2012) -
It was the passage and steep by which General Forrest was said to have crossed over the Cumberland Plateau on his way from Stone's River to Missionary Ridge.
Fiction book (1991) -
Located in the poorest regions of the country, four of the RCCI colleges are located deep in the heart of the Appalachian coal fields, and a fifth serves the foothills on the western slope of the Cumberland Plateau.
Academic text (2003) -
Much of the park, set in the rugged Cumberland Plateau, is a reclaimed wilderness.
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In Tennessee, a coalition led by the state and The Nature Conservancy acquired nearly 130,000 acres on the Cumberland Plateau, an area highlighted in the state plan for its high biodiversity.
Surface Forms
Morphology
Cumberland + plateau
The noun 'plateau' provides the central, easily understood meaning (broad, flat elevated land) while 'Cumberland' simply names or locates that landform; even if a learner doesn't know the specific place, they can infer it refers to a plateau called Cumberland. This proper-name + noun place-name pattern is compositional and cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents will grasp the basic meaning.
Etymology
The name Cumberland Plateau comes from the nearby Cumberland River and the word plateau, which means a 'flat high area'. So, the name shows that it is a high, flat region near the Cumberland River.
