steppe

Etymology

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).

noun

1. The grasslands of Eastern Europe and Asia. Similar to (North American) prairie and (African) savanna.
   Enkidu was the hairy man of the wild steppes, and Gilgamesh was the hero of civilization; but now the contrast is between Gilgamesh, the king, the man of political power, the heroic man of action, the extrovert, and Utnapishtim, the man of religious authority, the introvert, the sage. 1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 187
2. A vast, cold, dry grass-plain.
   Grasslands: The Steppe biome is a dry, cold, grassland that is found in all of the continents except Australia and Antarctica. It is mostly found in the USA, Mongolia, Siberia, Tibet and China. There isn't much humidity in the air because Steppe is located away from the ocean and close to mountain barriers. 2000, Mary Elizabeth v. N., “Steppe”, in Blue Planet Biomes, West Tisbury Elementary School