tarn

The story

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*der-“to separate, split; to crack, shatter”
2. Proto-Germanic · derived from*ternō“water hole”
3. Old Norse · derived fromtjǫrn“a small lake without tributaries”
4. Middle English · inherited fromterne
5. English todaytarn

From Middle English terne, tarne (“lake; pond, pool”), from Old Norse tjǫrn (“a small lake without tributaries”), from Proto-Germanic *ternō (“water hole”), perhaps related to *turnaz (“bitter, embittered”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *der- (“to separate, split; to crack, shatter”). The word is cognate with Danish tjern, Faroese tjørn (“pond”), Icelandic tjörn (“pond”), Norwegian Bokmål tjern (“small forest or mountain lake”) (Norwegian Nynorsk tjern, tjørn), Swedish tjärn (“small forest lake”).

Words from the same roots

First known use, by meaning

• from late 14th c. A small mountain lake, especially in Northern England.