English
Little Ice Age
From little + ice age, coined by Dutch-American topographer and geologist François E.
A compound of little + ice age
Proto-Indo-European *lewd- ‘to bend’
…
Proto-West Germanic *lūtan ‘to bow down’
Proto-West Germanic *lūtil
Old English lȳtel ‘small’
Middle English litel
English little
The story
From little + ice age, coined by Dutch-American topographer and geologist François E. Matthes in 1939.
Today it means
name A period of cooling (not a true ice age) that followed the Medieval Warm Period and continued from about 1300 to about 1850.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Little Ice Age