Telemarked

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Skied by sinking into a low lunge with one knee bent so the free heel turns the ski in a graceful arc
2. Performed a skiing turn in which the free-heel binding lets the skier drop one knee into a deep lunge
3. Made a controlled ski turn using a low kneeling stance, the style associated with free-heel Nordic-style skiing

Etymology: The skiing turn is named after a place, and the place's name is far older than the sport. Telemark is a county in southern Norway, and its name goes back to Old Norse "Þelamǫrk", built from the genitive plural of "þelir", the name of an old Germanic tribe, joined to "mǫrk", meaning borderland or woodland. So the word for a skiing manoeuvre carries the name of an ancient people in its heart. The link to skiing comes from the Telemark region itself, where skiers developed the technique of sinking into a deep, bent-knee lunge and swinging one ski forward to turn. The move became known as the telemark turn, and the verb "telemark" took its sense from it: to turn in a lunge. The past form "telemarked" simply describes a skier who has done this.