1732: firth and fjord Sep 11, 2019

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The landscape of Great Britain is not so similar to the far more rugged Scandinavian coast, which is why when describing long narrow inlets between cliffs, the usual word is the Norwegian 'fjord', even for places in, even for in the Americas. Nonetheless, English already had a word for that, sort of: 'firth'. Such as in the 'Strait of Firth' or the 'Solway Firth', there are physical features in Britain with this name. As it happens, this word too ultimately comes from Old Norse, same as 'fjord', but it entered Middle English through Scotts, which should not be so surprising considering that these firths are mostly in the North of England or in Scotland. 
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