''Ley'' (''the Ley'', plural: the ''Leyen'') is an old German word for

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

cliff In geography and geology, a cliff is an area of rock which has a general angle defined by the vertical, or nearly vertical. Cliffs are formed by the processes of weathering and erosion, with the effect of gravity. Cliffs are common on co ...

or crag which often occurs in placenames.

Etymology

''Ley'', also ''lay'', ''lei'', ''lai'', ''laige'' or ''lägge'', and, according to Grimm, ''leie'', is a commonly occurring name for rocks or crags in the

Rhenish The Rhineland (german: Rheinland; french: Rhénanie; nl, Rijnland; ksh, Rhingland; Latinised name: ''Rhenania'') is a loosely defined area of Western Germany along the Rhine, chiefly its middle section. Term Historically, the Rhinelands ...

and

Lower German : : : : : (70,000) (30,000) (8,000) , familycolor = Indo-European , fam2 = Germanic , fam3 = West Germanic , fam4 = North Sea Germanic , ancestor = Old Saxon , ancestor2 = Middle L ...

language regions. It is derived from the

Old Saxon Old Saxon, also known as Old Low German, was a Germanic language and the earliest recorded form of Low German (spoken nowadays in Northern Germany, the northeastern Netherlands, southern Denmark, the Americas and parts of Eastern Europe). It i ...

word, ''lêia''. It is particularly associated with rock precipices (''Felsabbrüche'') and rock faces (''Felswände''), but also with rock slabs (''Felsplatte''). In addition, it is also used in the sense of

shale Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4) and tiny fragments (silt-sized particles) of other minerals, especial ...

slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...

''(Leienstein)'', and also to mean "slate" in the sense of a blackboard or roofing tile ''( Leiendecker)''. Its

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

form is ''leyde'' or ''leye''. Eintra
LEIE,LEI, f. fels, stein.
In: Jacob Grimm, Wilhelm Grimm: '' Deutsches Wörterbuch''. Leipzig 1854-1960 (dwb.uni-trier.de) According to Celtologists at the

University of Trier The University of Trier (german: Universität Trier), in the German city of Trier, was founded in 1473. Closed in 1798 by order of the then French administration in Trier, the university was re-established in 1970 after a hiatus of some 172 y ...

the term may have originally come from the Gallic (

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

) word, ''lika, likka'' which means "rock slab/sheet''. In addition to natural rock walls, an artificial

quarry A quarry is a type of open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some jurisdictions to reduce their envi ...

, such as the basalt quarries of the

Eifel The Eifel (; lb, Äifel, ) is a low mountain range in western Germany and eastern Belgium. It occupies parts of southwestern North Rhine-Westphalia, northwestern Rhineland-Palatinate and the southern area of the German-speaking Community of ...

, may be called a ''Ley'' or ''Lay''. The workers there are known as ''Layer''.{{cite web, title=Vulkanschule: Die Museumslay, publisher=Vulkanpark, Nationaler Geopark Vulkanland Eifel, url=http://vulkanschule.de/service/vulkanpark-stationen/museumslay, accessdate=2015-05-26, language=German, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150526203924/http://vulkanschule.de/service/vulkanpark-stationen/museumslay, archive-date=2015-05-26, url-status=dead

Examples

Loreley The Lorelei ( ; ), spelled Loreley in German, is a , steep slate rock on the right bank of the River Rhine in the Rhine Gorge (or Middle Rhine) at Sankt Goarshausen in Germany, part of the Upper Middle Rhine Valley UNESCO World Heritage Site. ...

, a well known slate hill on the Rhine *

Tholey Tholey () is a municipality in the district of Sankt Wendel, in Saarland, Germany. It is situated approximately west of Sankt Wendel, and north of Saarbrücken. History Local history The first traces of settlement in the area of today's Thol ...

, parish and abbey in the northern

Saarland The Saarland (, ; french: Sarre ) is a state of Germany in the south west of the country. With an area of and population of 990,509 in 2018, it is the smallest German state in area apart from the city-states of Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg, and ...

Theley Tholey () is a municipality in the district of Sankt Wendel, in Saarland, Germany. It is situated approximately west of Sankt Wendel, and north of Saarbrücken. History Local history The first traces of settlement in the area of today's Thol ...

, a village in the parish of

* Erpeler Ley, a basalt rock face above the Rhine * the Koblenz quarter of

Lay Lay may refer to: Places *Lay Range, a subrange of mountains in British Columbia, Canada *Lay, Loire, a French commune *Lay (river), France *Lay, Iran, a village *Lay, Kansas, United States, an unincorporated community People * Lay (surname) * ...

* Kaiserlei, a quarter in the city of Offenbach, named after a rock above the River Main * the Rabenlay is a hill in the

Siebengebirge The (), occasionally Sieben Mountains or Seven Mountains, are a hill range of the German Central Uplands on the east bank of the Middle Rhine, southeast of Bonn. Description The area, located in the municipalities of Bad Honnef and König ...

range, at the foot of which was found the double grave of Oberkassel. * the Rabenlay is a shallows in the Rhine at river kilometre 548.5-549.0 near

Oberwesel Oberwesel () is a town on the Middle Rhine in the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis (district) in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' Hunsrück-Mittelrhein, whose seat is in Emmelshausen. Geography Location Oberwesel lies ...

* Mendiger Ley, basalt mine *

Leybucht The Leybucht is the second largest bay in East Frisia in northwest Germany after the Dollart. The Jade Bight is larger than both, but belongs historically to Oldenburg. Location The Leybucht lies in western East Frisia between the port of G ...

near

Norden Norden is a Scandinavian and German word, directly translated as "the North". It may refer to: Places England * Norden, Basingstoke, a ward of Basingstoke and Deane * Norden, Dorset, a hamlet near Corfe Castle * Norden, Greater Manchester, a vi ...

( East Frisia) * Plästerlegge ("raining slate rock"), waterfall near the Bestwig village of

Wasserfall The ''Wasserfall Ferngelenkte FlaRakete'' (Waterfall Remote-Controlled A-A Rocket) was a German guided supersonic surface-to-air missile project of World War II. Development was not completed before the end of the war and it was not used operati ...

Geierlay The Geierlay is a suspension bridge in the low mountain range of the Hunsrück in western Germany. It was opened in 2015. It has a span range of and is up to above ground. On both sides of the bridge are the villages of Mörsdorf and Sosberg. ...

in (Mörsdorf Hunsrück), Germany's second longest suspension bridge

References

* Oronyms