prettygoodword (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
prettygoodword) wrote2009-08-12 07:34 am
prettygoodword) wrote2009-08-12 07:34 am
mofette
mofette (or moffette) - n., a vent near recent volcanic activity emitting carbon dioxide, steam, and sometimes other gasses; the gasses vented from such an opening.
Pronounced usually moh-FET but sometimes frenchified maw-FET, for we got it from French, who took it from Italian moffetta, who adapted it from Lombard muffa, mould, from Germanic roots (cf. modern German Muff, mould). Mouldy volcanoes -- I love it. Mofettes -- usually better known as fumaroles -- are usually part of the last stage of volcanic activity.
---L.
Pronounced usually moh-FET but sometimes frenchified maw-FET, for we got it from French, who took it from Italian moffetta, who adapted it from Lombard muffa, mould, from Germanic roots (cf. modern German Muff, mould). Mouldy volcanoes -- I love it. Mofettes -- usually better known as fumaroles -- are usually part of the last stage of volcanic activity.
---L.