Ley (the Ley, plural: the Leyen) is an old German word for rock, cliff or crag which often occurs in placenames.
Ley (the Ley, plural: the Leyen) is an old German word for rock, cliff or crag which often occurs in placenames.
Ley, also lay, lei, lai, laige [1] or lägge, [2] and, according 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 (Felsabbrüche) and rock faces (Felswände), but also with rock slabs (Felsplatte). In addition, it is also used in the sense of shale or slate (Leienstein), and also to mean "slate" in the sense of a blackboard or roofing tile (Leiendecker). Its Dutch form is leyde or leye. [3]
According to Celtologists at the University of Trier the term may have originally come from the Gallic (Celtic) word, lika, likka which means "rock slab/sheet. [4]
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. [5]
The Westerwald is a low mountain range on the right bank of the river Rhine in the German federal states of Rhineland-Palatinate, Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia. It is a part of the Rhenish Massif. Its highest elevation, at 657 m above sea level, is the Fuchskaute in the High Westerwald.
The Eifel 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 Belgium.
The Hunsrück is a long, triangular, pronounced upland in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is bounded by the valleys of the Moselle-Saar (north-to-west), the Nahe (south), and the Rhine (east). It is continued by the Taunus mountains, past the Rhine and by the Eifel past the Moselle. To the south of the Nahe is a lower, hilly country forming the near bulk of the Palatinate region and all of the, smaller, Saarland. Below its north-east corner is Koblenz.
Mayen is a town in the Mayen-Koblenz District of the Rhineland-Palatinate Federal State of Germany, in the eastern part of the Volcanic Eifel Region. As well as the main town, additional settlements include Alzheim, Kürrenberg, Hausen-Betzing, Hausen and Nitztal. Mayen is the administrative centre of the Vordereifel ‘Collective Municipality’, although it is not part of the municipality.
The term Stift is derived from the verb stiften and originally meant a donation. Such donations usually comprised earning assets, originally landed estates with serfs defraying dues or with vassal tenants of noble rank providing military services and forwarding dues collected from serfs. In modern times the earning assets could also be financial assets donated to form a fund to maintain an endowment, especially a charitable foundation. When landed estates, donated as a Stift to maintain the college of a monastery, the chapter of a collegiate church or the cathedral chapter of a diocese, formed a territory enjoying the status of an imperial state within the Holy Roman Empire then the term Stift often also denotes the territory itself. In order to specify this territorial meaning the term Stift is then composed with "hoch" as the compound Hochstift, denoting a prince-bishopric, or Erzstift for a prince-archbishopric.
Gerolstein is a town in the Vulkaneifel district of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Gerolstein is a local municipality of the Verbandsgemeinde Gerolstein. It has been approved as a Luftkurort.
Kelberg is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Vulkaneifel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the like-named Verbandsgemeinde, and is home to its seat. Kelberg is a state-recognized climatic spa.
Wollmerath is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Cochem-Zell district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Ulmen, whose seat is in the like-named town.
Düngenheim is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Cochem-Zell district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Kaisersesch, whose seat is in the like-named town.
Leienkaul is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Cochem-Zell district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Kaisersesch, whose seat is in the like-named town.
Masburg is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Cochem-Zell district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Kaisersesch, whose seat is in the like-named town.
Dommershausen is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis (district) in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Kastellaun, whose seat is in the like-named town.
Birgel is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Vulkaneifel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Gerolstein, whose seat is in the municipality of Gerolstein.
Hohenfels-Essingen is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Vulkaneifel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Gerolstein, whose seat is in the like-named town.
Nohn is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Vulkaneifel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Gerolstein, whose seat is in the like-named town.
Retterath is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Vulkaneifel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Kelberg, whose seat is in the like-named municipality.
Steineberg is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Vulkaneifel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Daun, whose seat is in the like-named town.
The Volcanic Eifel or Vulkan Eifel is a region in the Eifel Mountains in Germany that is defined to a large extent by its volcanic geological history. Characteristic of this volcanic field are its typical explosion crater lakes or maars, and numerous other signs of volcanic activity such as volcanic tuffs, lava streams and volcanic craters like the Laacher See. The Volcanic Eifel is still volcanically active today. One sign of this activity is the escaping gases in the Laacher See.
The Volcano Park in Mayen-Koblenz is a geopark in the rural district of Mayen-Koblenz in the eastern Vulkan Eifel, Germany. It was founded in 1996 and wraps around the Laacher See. Together with the Volcano Park, Brohltal/Laacher See and the Vulkan Eifel Nature and Geo-Park, it forms part of the national Eifel Volcano Land Geo-Park. The three parks are connected by the 280-kilometre-long German Volcano Route.
The Schevenhütte quarry is a former slate quarry in Stolberg-Schevenhütte. Unique Schevenhütte natural stone was quarried here presumably from the Middle Ages until 2008. In the 20th century until it was closed down, the quarry was called "Kaspar Müller I Quarry". It is located on the northern edge of the Eifel at the southern end of Schevenhütte. Geologically, it is part of the outermost foothills of the Venn saddle, where very old rocks from the latest Ordovician period are exposed. These rocks are the oldest in North Rhine-Westphalia. As a special feature, the so-called "Schevenhütter Schichten" dip very straight in the quarry area and were thus worth mining. "Schevenhütter Naturstein" was quarried mainly in two varieties, a greenish and a red variety. Basically, the stone from the middle and upper Wehebach layers was roughly processed and sold on site. The "Schevenhütter Schiefer" was used in a variety of ways throughout the region, including as ornamental and rough building material, but also as walking slabs and as gravestones.