Posted by Robert Dilley on February 21, 2005 at 22:52:05 from 65.39.13.235 user rdilley.
In Reply to: Re: Guardian posted by David Bamford on February 21, 2005 at 21:41:33:
David Bamford wrote "A cirque is where the mountains form a circular ridge around, as Ian said, a bowl-shaped depression.... The word is obviously of French origin. The German version is 'bergschrund'."
Aha! A chance for the Pedants to strike again. Bergschrund, according to my Dictionary of Geography is "The gap or Crevasse left round the upper rim of a glacier or a snowfield, as the ice or snow moves downwards; it usually provides a difficult obstacle to any attempt to climb from the snowfield to the mountain peaks beyond. The French term for bergschrund is rimaye."
Bergschrund is therefore not a synonym for cirque, corrie or cwm. What the German for cirque, corrie or cwm might be, I have no idea. I'm pedantic, not omniscient.