Two Coastal Terms of Continental Origin: ‘Shingle’ and ‘Dene’

The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) entry for shingle, n2 (variant chingle) has not been revised since the first edition in 1914. The senses given, with the date of first attestation, are '1a. Small roundish stones; loose, waterworn pebbles such as are found collected upon the seashore', (chingle 1598, shingle 1676); 1b. collective plural shingles (1574)'; and '. A beach or other tract covered with loose roundish pebbles (chingle 1513, shingle 1577)'. The word is said to be of obscure origin, and the forms with ch-, which are somewhat earlier and mainly Scottish and East Anglian, are suggested to be of echoic origin.