Etymology

urstromtal

ur·strom·tal
U1R1S1T1R1O1M3T1A1L1

Today it means: A broad glacial valley formed during an ice age by meltwater flowing roughly parallel to the ice margin. Full definition →

German Urstromtal ← Proto-Indo-European *srew-
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The story

  1. German · borrowed fromUrstromtäler
  2. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*dʰól(h₂)os
  3. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*srew-“to flow; stream”
  4. German · borrowed fromUrstromtal
  5. English todayurstromtal

Unadapted borrowing from German Urstromtal, from ur- (prefix meaning ‘original; primitive’) + Strom (“large river; stream”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *srew- (“to flow; stream”)) + Tal (“valley”) (ultimate etymology uncertain, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *dʰól(h₂)os). The plural form urstromtäler is also an unadapted borrowing from German Urstromtäler.

Words from the same roots

Proto-Indo-European*srew- all →

streamSalisburysoarrhymemaelstromrheostatendorheiclogorrhea

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.