STEPPE (from the Russ. stepi, a

See also:

• WASTE (O. Fr. wast, guast, gast, gaste; Lat. vastus, vast, desolate)

waste)  , the name given to the level treeless plains in certain parts of the Russian Empire, and thence sometimes, though not commonly, extended, in physical geography, to signify similar plains elsewhere . The name is most commonly applied specifically to the plains in the south and south-east of European Russia and in the south-west of Asiatic Russia, and in this connexion the term sometimes connotes semi-desert conditions . Otherwise the Russian steppes may be considered as kindred to and connected with the Heiden (heaths) of northern Germany .