tule

tu·le  (tl)

n.

1. Any of several bulrushes of the genus Scirpus, growing in marshy lowlands of the southwest United States.

2. tu·les (tlz) Northern California Marshy or swampy land. Also called regionally tule land.

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[American Spanish, from Nahuatl tollin, reed.]

Regional Note: Low, swampy land is tules or tule land in the parlance of northern California. When the Spanish colonized Mexico and Central America, they borrowed from the native inhabitants the Nahuatl word tollin, "bulrush." The English-speaking settlers of the West in turn borrowed the Spanish word tule to refer to certain varieties of bulrushes native to California. Eventually the meaning of the word was extended to the marshy land where the bulrushes grew.