Tarn
/tɑːrn/noun
A small mountain lake or pool, especially one formed in a cirque by glacial action.
Did you know?Tarn is a genuine northern English word that came into standard English from Scandinavian speech, and in British place-names it often preserves the memory of glacial landscapes older than the villages around them.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*ters-
“to dry up”
Proto-Germanic
PGmc
*tarną
“pool, pond, small lake”
Old Norse
Old Norse
tjörn
“small lake, pond”
Old English / Northern dialects
English
tarn
“small mountain lake or pond”
19th Century
English
tarn
“a small lake in a corrie or cirque, especially in the Lake District and Scotland”
Modern English
English
tarn
“a small mountain lake”