Telemarking

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A style of skiing in which the heel is free from the binding and the skier sinks into a lunge to turn ; the recreational sport built around that free-heel technique on snow
2. Skiing with the heel unlocked, using a deep knee-bent lunge to steer ; the winter sport that practises this method across hills and mountains
3. A way of gliding downhill on skis with a free heel and a low lunging stance to change direction ; the outdoor pastime and competitive discipline based on this approach

Etymology: Skiing took its name from a county, and the county's name carries an ancient tribal one. Telemark is a region of southern Norway, and the skiing style called telemarking was named after it. The place name comes from Old Norse "Þelamǫrk", a compound of the genitive plural of "þelir", the name of an old Germanic tribe, and "mǫrk", meaning borderland or woodland. So the name preserves a people whose identity has otherwise faded into the landscape. The word "telemark" now refers to the technique of turning on skis with one knee bent and the other leg forward, a movement originally developed in that Norwegian county. Its ski-turning sense is the one the name picked up, so that a region's name became the name of a manoeuvre.