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From GermanSteppe or Frenchsteppe, in turn from Russianстепь(stepʹ, “flat grassy plain”) or Ukrainianстеп(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).
Nevertheless be it remarked, that even a Russian steppe has tumuli and gold ornaments […]
1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 187:
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.
A vast, cold, dry grass-plain.
2000, Mary Elizabeth v. N., “Steppe”, in Blue Planet Biomes, West Tisbury Elementary School:
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.
Usage notes
Although it may be the steppe biome, one would not normally speak of the steppes of Canada, whereas one would speak of the steppes of Asia or the steppes of Russia.
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Melnychuk, O. S., editor (1982–2012), “степ”, in Етимологічний словник української мови [Etymological Dictionary of the Ukrainian Language] (in Ukrainian), Kyiv: Naukova Dumka