A vocabulary of landscape — a landscape of words
975 entries
fjord
A long, narrow, deep inlet of the sea between steep cliffs, carved by a glacier that once flowed to the coast and scoured a valley well below sea level. When the glacier retreated and the sea flooded in, the valley became a fjord. Norway’s Sognefjord is over 4,000 feet deep and 125 miles long.
Etymology
Norwegian fjord, from Old Norse fjǫrðr, related to fara, to travel. A passage — the water travels inland through the mountain.