A vocabulary of landscape — a landscape of words
975 entries
talus
A field of broken rock that has fallen from the cliff above and accumulated at its base. Larger than scree — individual rocks range from grapefruit-sized to refrigerator-sized. Crossing a talus field is an exercise in choosing which rocks to trust.
Etymology
From French “talus,” from Old French “talu” (slope), from Latin “talutium” — which specifically meant a gold-bearing slope or outcrop, not slope in general. “Talutium” is itself probably not native Latin but borrowed, possibly of Iberian or Celtic origin (compare Welsh/Breton “tal,” forehead/brow).