fjord

noun

Etymology: Unadapted borrowing from Norwegian fjord, from Old Norse fjǫrðr, from Proto-Germanic *ferþu, *ferþuz (“inlet, fjord”), from Proto-Indo-European *pértus (“crossing”), from *per- (“to carry forth”) + *-tus (suffix forming action nouns from verb roots). Doublet of firth, ford, port, and fjard.

1. A long, narrow, deep inlet between cliffs.

   “About 20 English miles beyond this river, which is the largest in Norway, the road crosses the fjord which forms the boundary of the two kingdoms [Norway and Sweden]; and whose waters but too often in former days were dyed with the life-blood of many a bold mountaineer who crossed the "border stream" never to return.”

   “At last one gave a deep groan, and another declared that the spirits of the fiord were against them, and there was no doubt that their boat was now lying twenty fathoms deep, at the bottom of the creek; drawn down by the strong hand of an angry water-spirit. [...] Another said he would not go till he had looked abroad over the fiord, for some chance of seeing the boat.”