Börde

A Börde is a gently undulating hilly landscape at the foot of the low mountain range that is located in northern Germany (or more northerly Germany) and is naturally favored due to its loess cover , relative dryness and warmth . The term is mainly used in relation to specific landscapes that bear it in the name, of which the Magdeburger Börde at the southern transition from the North German lowlands to the Harz Mountains and the Soester Börde at the southern edge of the Westphalian Bay to the Southern Mountains (Sauerland) are prototypical.

What is striking is the typological correspondence between the landscapes, which are commonly referred to as “Börde”, as flat, undulating land with few trees and fertile loess soil. The Börden are mainly in the old moraine area ; the black earth soils created here are among the best in Germany.

etymology

A Börde - Middle Low German borde or börde , gebörde - was originally an area subject to taxation of the city or the church, a tax district. There is a connection with the Low German bören meaning “ raise a gradient ”, ie “raise taxes”. Already in Old High German there was a comparable word formation: giburida with the literal meaning "that which belongs to you". Closely related are today's words fee (Old High German giburian , Middle High German gebürn ) and fee . All of these words go back to an Indo-European root * bher , to which the meanings “rise”, “lift” and “carry” can be assigned. About this root there is an original relationship with numerous other words in different languages, in German about gebären , Bürde, Bahre or Berg .

From the original meaning “tax district”, the additional meanings “judicial district” and “(fertile) landscape” emerged. The landscapes known today as Börde concentrate on the dialect area of Ostfälisch and Westphalian .

In Gau / Gäu , the development was the other way round: At the beginning there was the meaning “land” or “landscape”, from which the meaning “administrative district” developed.

geomorphology

Börden range from the North German Geest to the edge of the low mountain range and consist of loess, which was mainly deposited by easterly winds. The loess lies partly over boulder clay (on the Weser, Leine and Oker), partly over Mesozoic and Tertiary sedimentary rocks ( Hellwegbörden , foreland of the Harz ). The loess blankets are up to 10 m thick and reduce differences in relief. In the (sub) oceanic climatic area, the loess is largely decalcified and silted up. The northern loess border is not only a soil and vegetation border but also a settlement border (cities such as Minden , Hanover or Magdeburg are on the loess border).