Also 9 vallonia; 8 valanea, 9 -onea; 9 velonia, -ea. [ad. It. vallonía, vallonéa, whence also F. vallonée, velonnée, † velonie (1553), ad. mod.Gr. βαλάνια, βελάνια, pl. of βαλάνι, βελάνι acorn (anc. Gr. βάλανος).]
1. The large acorn-cups and acorns of Quercus ægilops (and the related Q. vallonea), a species of oak growing esp. in the north-eastern Mediterranean regions, valued for the abundant tannin they contain, and much used in tanning, dyeing, etc.
α. 1722. Lond. Gaz., No. 6040/6. Red Saunders, Shumack, Sticklack, Turnsole, Valonia. Ibid. 7 Valonia the Tun Weight, seven Pounds.
1812. J. Smyth, Pract. of Customs (1821), 266. Valonia is a dying ingredient, brought from Italy and the Levant. It is the husks of the acorn, generally mixed with that fruit.
1852. Morfit, Tanning & Currying (1853), 82. The leather made with valonia is said to be firmer and heavier than the oak-tanned.
1889. Daily News, 12 Nov., 5/6. Another day, while I was collecting vallonia, I was assaulted by four soldiers.
β. 1775. R. Chandler, Trav. Asia M. (1825), I. 27. The species of low oak, which produces valanea, or the large acorns used in tanning. Ibid., 124. The Valanea, or large acorns,… are exported, chiefly to Italy.
1867. Simmonds, Dict. Trade, s.v., In 1862, there were imported 29,720 tons of valonea.
1898. Zangwill, Dreamers Ghetto, iv. 116. Hard-headed Sephardim were busy in toil and traffic, working with their hands, or shipping freights of figs or valonea.
γ. c. 1835. Encycl. Metrop. (1845), XXIII. 743. The acorns … are extensively used by dyers by the name of Velonea.
1849. Balfour, Man. Bot., § 1039.
1866. Treas. Bot., 1202/1.
b. attrib. and Comb.
1862. Catal. Internat. Exhib., Brit., II. No. 4628. Oak bark and valonia tanned leather.
1903. Brighton Stand., 27 Oct., 9/3. A … clerk in the hide and valonia business.
2. Valonia Oak, the Levantine species Quercus ægilops. Also ellipt.
1829. Loudon, Encycl. Plants, 796. Velonia Oak.
1830. Lindley, Nat. Syst. Bot., 98. A species known in the Levant under the name of Velonia.
1841. Penny Cycl., XIX. 214/2. Q. Ægilops, Great prickly-cupped Oak, or Valonia.
1892. Agnes Clerke, Fam. Stud. Homer, vi. 153. The tradition of acorn-eating connected with the rustic Arcadians applied evidently to the fruit of the valonia-oak.
