English
tarn
Tarn comes from Old Norse tjǫrn ‘a small lake without tributaries’, from Proto-Germanic *ternō ‘water hole’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *der- ‘to split, to separate’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*der-‘to split, to separate’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*ternō‘water hole’reconstructed
- Old Norsec. 800–1350tjǫrn‘a small lake without tributaries’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500terne
- Englishearliest quotation 1802tarn
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*der-‘to split, to separate’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*ternō‘water hole’reconstructed
- Old Norsec. 800–1350tjǫrn‘a small lake without tributaries’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500terne
- Englishearliest quotation 1802tarn
Earliest quotation: 1802, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Dejection: An Ode: “Thou Wind, that ravest without, / Bare craig, or…”
The story
From Middle English terne, tarne (‘lake; pond, pool’), from Old Norse tjǫrn (‘a small lake without tributaries’), from Proto-Germanic *ternō (‘water hole’), perhaps related to *turnaz (‘bitter, embittered’), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *der- (‘to separate, split; to crack, shatter’). The word is cognate with Danish tjern, Faroese tjørn (‘pond’), Icelandic tjörn (‘pond’), Norwegian Bokmål tjern (‘small forest or mountain lake’) (Norwegian Nynorsk tjern, tjørn), Swedish tjärn (‘small forest lake’).
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *der- ‘to split, to separate’
truck, tear, turd, dermatology, dermatitis, tirade, pander, tart, dermis, derm, 16 more
through Middle English terne
Today it means
noun A small mountain lake, especially in Northern England.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *der- / tarn