piedmont (n.)

name given to the fertile upland region along the eastern slope of the Appalachians, 1755, originally piemont, from Italian Piemonte, literally "mountain foot," name of the region at the foot of the Alps in northern Italy (see Piedmont). With -d- added by 1855. Applied by extension to similar regions at the foot of other mountain ranges (1860).

region in northern Italy, from Old Italian pie di monte "foot of the mountains," from pie "foot" (from Latin pes "foot," from PIE root *ped- "foot") + monte "mountain" (from PIE root *men- (2) "to project"). Related: Piedmontese.