English
loess
Loess comes from German Löss ‘yellowish-gray soil’.
- Germanc. 1650–presentLöss‘yellowish-gray soil’
- Englishearliest quotation 1951loess
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Germanc. 1650–presentLöss‘yellowish-gray soil’
- Englishearliest quotation 1951loess
Earliest quotation: 1951, Herbert Hoover, Engineering in China 1899–1902: “The Yellow River—the “Sorrow of China”—comes down from the…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *lewh₁- ‘to cut, sever, separate, loosen, lose’
so, analysis, solution, lose, solve, analyst, sol, paralysis, soluble, dialysis, palsy, resolute, paralyze, paralytic, lysis, 30 more
through Proto-Indo-European *lewHs-
through Proto-Germanic *leusaną ‘to lose’
through Proto-Germanic *lausaz ‘loose, free’
through Proto-West Germanic *laus ‘loose, free’
Today it means
noun Any sediment, dominated by silt, of eolian (wind-blown) origin.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / German Löss / loess