Berg

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /bɜːɡ/

Definitions

1. A substantial chunk of ice adrift in the ocean represents a massive frozen structure
2. A large mass of ice drifting in the sea, detached from a glacier or ice shelf
3. An enormous ice block floating on ocean waters, often breaking off from polar ice formations

Etymology: "Berg" is a clipping of "iceberg," the older and longer word. The first part, "ice," is plain English, but the second part, "berg," came into English from Afrikaans, where "berg" means "mountain" or "hill," and it is the same word as the Dutch and German "berg." The English "iceberg" was formed from "ice" and this borrowed "berg," so "berg" is essentially a mountain of ice in its own right, and the shortened form took the whole meaning of the compound. The word "berg" also has an unexpected relative in English: "barrow" and "bergh" are doublets, meaning they descend from the same ancestral word but reached English by different routes. "Barrow" is the older English form, meaning a hill or mound, and it survives in place names and in burial mounds. Because of this kinship, the mountain sense hidden in "berg" connects it to the same ancient idea that gave English one of its oldest words for a hill.

Synonyms: iceberg, mountain