Fall Line, Feeder, Flood: Origins, Forms, Histories of Words Meaning River, Lake

The natural features of a region are its topography. The word comes from Greek topos ("place").

Rivers, lakes, and similar freshwater bodies are among the most important topographic features of a region. Many words relating to freshwater features have little-known meanings and/or colorful etymologies.

In the current alphabetic series of such terms, here are the origins, forms, and histories of fall line, feeder, and flood. The dates of forms and meanings come from the Oxford English Dictionary and Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary.

Fall Line
An imaginary line joining the waterfalls on many rivers in the same region, marking the point where each river descends from the upland to the lowland, and indicating the limit of the navigability of each river is called a fall line (1882).

The term was originally used mainly in the eastern United States to denote such a line marking the western limit of the Atlantic coastal plain.

Feeder
Feeder entered Middle English in the 14th century. Among its early spellings were feder and federe. The word is a simple combination of the verb feed and the suffix -er ("one that does or performs" the specified action).

The earliest uses of feeder referred to someone who fed animals or, figuratively, attended to people regarded as a flock (14th century).

A stream that flows into a larger stream or a lake-thus "feeding" it-is a feeder (1795).

Flood
Modern English flood comes from Middle English flood (14th century), from Old English flod (before 12th century). The word is akin to Old High German fluot ("flood") and Old English flowan ("to flow").

Flood has been used in many different ways. At least four meanings from the Old English period are still important to understand.

Now obsolete in everyday usage but encountered in old writings, especially poetry, are these two senses: water as opposed to land (before 1000); and any body of flowing water, especially a large river (c. 825).

Still commonly used are these two meanings: the flowing in of the tide (before 1000); and a rising and overflowing of a body of water, such as a river, especially on normally dry land (c. 1000).

There are also four well-known uses of flood in compounds.

Flash flood (1940). A local flood of great volume and short duration usually resulting from heavy rainfall.

Floodplain (1873). A level plain that may be submerged by floodwaters.

Flood tide (1719). A rising tide.

Floodwater (1791). The water of a flood. Often used in the plural.
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Encyclopaedia Britannica Ready Reference 2004. CD-ROM. Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2004.

Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary. 11th ed. Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 2006.

Merriam-Webster's Geographical Dictionary. 3rd ed. Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 2007.

The Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd ed. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press, 1989.