Ley (landform)


Ley is an old German word for rock, cliff or crag which often occurs in placenames.

Etymology

Ley, also lay, lei, lai, laige or lägge, and, accourding to Grimm, leie, is a commonly occurring name for rocks or crags in the Rhenish and Lower German language regions. It is derived from the Old Saxon word, lêia. It is particularly associated with rock precipices and rock faces, but also with rock slabs. In addition, it is also used in the sense of shale or slate ', and also to mean "slate" in the sense of a blackboard or roofing tile '. Its Dutch form is leyde or leye.
According to Celtologists at the University of Trier the term may have originally come from the Gallic word, lika, likka which means "rock slab/sheet.
In addition to natural rock walls, an artificial quarry, such as the basalt quarries of the Eifel, may be called a Ley or Lay. The workers there are known as Layer''.

Examples