crépuscule Posted October 26, 2007 Share Posted October 26, 2007 I know they're not common on French mountains (or at least where I've been) but is there a French word for "cairn" i.e. a carefully arranged loose pile of stones? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Smith Posted October 26, 2007 Share Posted October 26, 2007 Ummm, 'cairn'? S'what my dictionary says... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cat Posted October 26, 2007 Share Posted October 26, 2007 Apparently there is, and it's tumulus...http://www.wordreference.com/enfr/cairn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Smith Posted October 26, 2007 Share Posted October 26, 2007 Ah well, Cat's a mod, so hers must be the right translation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samdebretagne Posted October 26, 2007 Share Posted October 26, 2007 Having just visited an l'Ile de Gavrinis, I can tell you that both are used in French. A cairn is any mound of rocks, whereas a tumulus is a mound of rocks covered with dirt (and sometimes covered again with rocks). So a tumulus can also be a cairn, but a cairn cannot be a tumulus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crépuscule Posted October 26, 2007 Author Share Posted October 26, 2007 Thanks for your help. On second thoughts, I think I may have come across cairns in the Pyrenees marking the way across rocky pavements which may or may not also have been marked with the usual splashes of paint. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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