The story
- Ukrainian · derived fromстеп
- Russian · derived fromстепь“flat grassy plain”
- French · derived fromsteppe
- German · derived fromSteppe
- English todaysteppe
From German Steppe or French steppe, in turn from Russian степь (stepʹ, “flat grassy plain”) or Ukrainian степ (step). There is no generally accepted earlier etymology, but there is a speculative Old East Slavic reconstruction *сътепь (sŭtepĭ, “trampled place, flat, bare”), related to топот (topot), топтать (toptatĭ).
First known use, by meaning
- from 1671 The grasslands of Eastern Europe and Asia.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.