Firns

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Granular, compacted snow found in high mountain areas before it turns into glacier ice ; a stage of snow transformation that is denser than fresh snow but not yet solid ice ; old snow that has been compressed and partially melted, forming a coarse crystalline structure
2. Snow that has undergone melting and refreezing to form a dense, granular texture ; a type of aged snow that is more compact and granular than fresh snowfall but less solid than ice ; intermediate snow in glaciology that precedes the formation of firn or ice
3. Transitional snow that lies between fresh snow and glacier ice, granular and compacted but not fully solidified ; a stage in snow metamorphosis characterized by coarse grains resulting from repeated thawing and refreezing ; aged snow with increased density and crystalline granularity before glacial ice formation

Etymology: The plural "firns" is simply the plural of "firn," a German-derived term for snow that has survived at least one melt season. Its German source, "Firn," is tied to the idea of age: in Alemannic German dialect, "firn" meant "last year's," and in Old High German "firni" meant "old." Behind that lies a Proto-Germanic form meaning "foregoing" or "previous," so the word's core sense is something from the past that has carried over into the present. That sense of "old" or "former" is shared with some surprising relatives. Old English "fyrn" meant "former," Old Norse "forn" meant "old," and Gothic "fairneis" meant "old" too. The whole family traces back to a Proto-Indo-European root for "forth" or "across," so a word for old snow is linked, distantly, to the idea of things that have moved forward through time.

Synonyms: old snow, compacted snow, granular snow