Note 25 — GAMSBODEN

Ludwig Steub says that Droussa, Drossa, signifies aldertree or thicket of alders, that the Rhætian form of this word was probably tarusa or trusa, and that the valley is called Trusiana in chronicles, “which may be translated as valley of alders.” I have come across it also marked as Thrusiana, and may point out that the dwarf mountain alder (alnus viridis) is to this day called “Droosle” in our dialect. If Steub be correct, it is an odd circumstance, indeed, that this identical tree should once more have crept into the modern designation of this province: Vorarlberg, from the German Erle, an elder. “Arlberg”—“Arlenberg” in some old books—has also been derived from “Arla,” the dwarf pine, which is said to be one of its names in “German-speaking Rhætia.” It may be so. I have never heard these pines called “Aria” hereabouts, though they have several other names (see p. 6). They are sometimes called “Adla” in the Bregenxerwald.