Letch, Marsh, Marsh Gas, Marshland: Origins, Forms, Histories of Words Meaning Marsh, Swamp

The natural features of a region are its topography (from Greek topos ("place"). Marshes, swamps, and related areas are important examples of topographic features.

In the current alphabetic series of terms that refer to such places, here are the origins, forms, and histories of letch, marsh, marsh gas, and marshland. The dates of forms and meanings come from the Oxford English Dictionary and Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary.

Letch
Modern English letch (16th century) comes from Middle English leche (12th century), which probably goes back to Old English leccan ("to water, wet, moisten"). The word is akin to Old High German zelechen ("leaky") and Old Norse leka ("to leak").

The earliest recorded uses of this word are in Middle English place-names using leche to mean "stream flowing through boggy land" or simply "bog" (12th century).

Since at least the 16th century, letch has been a dialectal word in Scotland and northern England to denote a muddy ditch or pool, a bog, or a swamp. A variant form is latch (19th century).

Marsh
Modern English marsh comes from Middle English marsh (15th century) and mershe (13th century), from Old English merisc and mersc (both before 12th century). The word is akin to Middle Dutch mersch ("marsh") and Old English mere ("sea, pool").

A tract of soft, low-lying wetlands, often or continually inundated with water and usually characterized by grasses, is a marsh (c. 725).

There are many different kinds of marshes, from relatively small, isolated examples, such as the sometimes-dry prairie potholes, to vast regions, such as The Everglades, 4,000 square miles of marshes in southern Florida. Some marshes are coastal, and others are inland. Some are saltwater, and others are freshwater. In all cases, marsh water comes mostly from surface water and sometimes from groundwater (that is, underground water), rather than from direct precipitation.

Tidal marshes are marshes influenced by the motion of ocean tides. They may be freshwater, brackish (somewhat salty), or saline (salty). Such marshes are found on coastlines in middle and high latitudes worldwide. In the United States, they occur on the eastern coast from Maine to Florida, and along the Gulf of Mexico to Texas.

Nontidal marshes account for most of the wetlands in North America. Most of them are freshwater marshes, but some are brackish or alkaline. They often develop in shallow-water areas along the edges of rivers, streams, lakes, and ponds.

Marsh Gas
Marsh gas (1848) is methane, a colorless, odorless, flammable gas that is a product of the decomposition of organic matter in a marsh.

Marshland
Marshland (12th century) is a marsh or a marshy tract or area.
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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.