The Romans Had No Word For Glacier

I wonder why?

they had words like glacies, ice, and glaciare, to freeze, the Romans simply did not have in their minds the idea of a glacier.

http://environmentalresearchweb.org/

 

About Tony Heller

Just having fun
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24 Responses to The Romans Had No Word For Glacier

  1. Tony Duncan says:

    Wow, so the glaciers in the alps all formed since the 5th century AD? That is gonna turn climate science on its head. And the author of the article is too stupid to realize the obvious answer!

    • Dumbass, that is why Hannibal made no mention of glaciers.

    • Grumpy Grampy ;) says:

      Yes Tony the majority of the glaciers in the Alps formed since 500 AD. The evidence that is being uncovered under the glacier shows that.
      Real “Climate Scientists” know about this. It is Climatologists and their followers, the Chicken Little Brigade that have chosen to ignore the history of the region.

    • Amino Acids in Meteorites says:

      Tony Duncan

      Have you seen Ill Wind Blowing/Vilabollo/Mecago lately?

  2. AndyW says:

    I bet they didn’t have a word for moraine either but that doesn’t mean that moraine didn’t exist then.

    Andy

    • People were so dumb back then.

      • AndyW says:

        No, they were just more interested in things that affected them. They didn’t have countless time dicking about on the Internet like we do today 🙂

        Andy

        • When Hannibal crossed the Alps with elephants, he probably would have noticed crevasses. It is difficult to get an elephant to cross a crevasse on an aluminum ladder.

      • Amino Acids in Meteorites says:

        Didn’t see you were already on the Hannibal horse.

        A man named Jack Wheeler followed Hannibal’s path and made over the Alps with two elephants in the 1980’s. But it was very hard for him. I haven’t heard if anyone else has made it.

    • Grumpy Grampy ;) says:

      They did not understand how it was formed due to the lack of glaciers. It was a pile of rocks left by the gods when they created the world. Some even thought they were evidence of battles between the gods. At least some Mythology stories relate that the gods created geological formations during their various activities.

  3. AndyW says:

    My guess is Hannibal probably was going across the Alps not on a scientific journey of discovery but for some other reason. Hence why he is not famous for geology and geography.

    • suyts says:

      Andy, we can infer many things from Hannibal. He is famous for geology, geography, and archeology………. well, history too. 🙂 The Punic wars are one of my favorite studies!!

      • AndyW says:

        He’s more famous for pachyderms than packed-ice terms !

        Sorry couldn’t resist suyts 😀

        If he was that good how come he didn’t mention the glaciers? 😉

        Andy

      • suyts says:

        lol, thanks for the set-up!!! It’s appreciated. ……. to continue….

        Obviously the Alps were passable. Not only for pachyderms, but also for equine. (Hannibal rode a horse.) Continuing with the obvious, if there were glaciers, they weren’t significant enough for neither mention nor an army.

        The facts are, the world was quite different then. While there were other civilizations, cultures and beings, at that time, in that area, Rome and Carthage were the dominant ones. Apparently, this was a warmer world than the one we know today. Rome won the war and thrived as the dominant civilization for centuries. Humanity, in that era progressed as never seen before. Theology, art, math, science, philosophy, and even music thrived and prospered in this warmer climate. A cooler world ushered the dark ages. A warmer world ushered a Renaissance. A cooler world dispelled it for a bit. A warmer world afterwards has done nothing but soar!.

        Tomorrow is foreboding, but it hasn’t a thing to do with warming.

        I’ve been to Rome. It’s difficult to imagine a thriving culture warmer than today. But, it happened and humanity progressed. In a cooler environment, it did not. At least, not in Europe, but then China had difficulties then, too. The southern hemisphere……well, they never did get to where they needed to be……wheels, metallurgy and the like.

        Warmer…… its better.

  4. NikFromNYC says:

    The alps are a teeny tiny percentage of world glaciers, most of which are in the rapidly warming Himalayas, and glaciers overall represent a mere 1% of world ice mass:

    http://oi51.tinypic.com/2ymzuw0.jpg

    Glaciers come and go where altitude makes some regions very cold.

  5. Amino Acids in Meteorites says:

    Historians wonder how Hannibal took elephants over the Alps. But back then there was less snow, and maybe not any, on the Alps.

  6. AndyW says:

    It was warmer there, lots of wine grown in the south of England in Roman times of course.

    Andy

  7. mkelly says:

    “most of which are in the rapidly warming Himalayas, ”

    NikfromNYC can you be more specific. What warming, where, at what altitude etc.

  8. Sleepalot says:

    I looked it up in the Oxford English Dictionary.
    ———————————
    glacier (also glaciere)

    Etymology: < French glacier (earlier glacière), < glace ice; apparently Savoyard word. Compare gletscher

    1744 (title) An account of the glacieres or ice alps in Savoy, in two letters.
    1774 T. Pennant Tour Scotl. 1772 327 With snowy glacieres lodged in the deep shaded apertures.
    1775 C. Davy & F. Davy tr. M. T. Bourrit Relat. Journey Glaciers 88 The Glaciers?are beds of ice, more or less thick, which are lodged upon declivities between the mountains.
    ——————————–
    gletscher (also gletcher)

    Etymology: < German gletscher, adopted in 16th cent. from Swiss dialect = French glacier.

    1762 P. Murdoch tr. A. F. Büsching New Syst. Geogr. III. 578 Vast fragments of ice called Gletschers.
    1796 Duncan's Ann. Med. I. 23 In those very countries nearest to the gletschern [etc.].
    1825 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. 17 308 Ev'n at th' eternal Gletscher's ice-clad foot I sought and found cabins inhabited.
    ———————————
    glace (meaning: ice)

    Etymology: < French glace, < popular Latin *glacia = Latin glaci?s. (My note: that's not classical (Roman) Latin)

    a1400–50 Alexander 3002 Alexander?asperly rydis To þe grete flode of Granton and it on a glace [Dublin MS. as glas] fyndis.
    1540 Pate in State P. Hen. VIII (1849) VIII. 346 That the verite cummyng in place must nedes vade away, even as the glace by the fervor of the sone.
    1676 E. Coles Eng. Dict., Glace, Ice.
    ———————————-

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