berg
Meaning
A large mass or mountain of ice floating in the sea; an iceberg.
(South African) A mountain or hill.
Usage
The ship altered its course to avoid the massive berg.
Table Mountain is the most famous berg in Cape Town.
Only one-tenth of an iceberg is visible above water, with the rest of the berg hidden below.
Etymology
The word 'berg' entered English through two distinct but related paths. Its primary meaning of "iceberg" is a shortening of the Dutch-derived word 'iceberg', literally meaning "ice mountain". Its secondary meaning, used chiefly in South African English, comes directly from Afrikaans, retaining the original Germanic sense of a mountain or hill. This dual journey illustrates how a common Proto-Germanic root (bergaz) for a raised landform evolved separately, one path specializing in a dramatic frozen maritime feature and the other preserving the general terrestrial meaning in a specific regional dialect.
Analysis
The word 'berg' is a simplex loanword from Afrikaans/Dutch, itself from Middle Dutch 'berch', meaning "mountain". Its ultimate origin is Proto-Germanic bergaz.