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Where does the word "loess" come from? It comes from German Löss, and was adopted directly into English (1830s).
Read the full story
Where does the word "loess" come from? It comes from German Löss, and was adopted directly into English (1830s).
Loess’s story begins in German: Löss meant “loose soil.” The geologist Karl Cäsar von Leonhard named the Rhine valley's loose silt from Alemannic 'lösch', loose. It reached English by 1830s as loess. Applied to vast deposits such as China's Loess Plateau. Today, loess means a fine windblown silt forming fertile soils.
- Stage 1 · German · 1820s Löss "loose soil", the geologist Karl Cäsar von Leonhard named the Rhine valley's loose silt from Alemannic 'lösch', loose.
- Stage 2 · English · 1830s loess "windblown silt", applied to vast deposits such as China's Loess Plateau.