Garden Tool Set

Word day Thursday: Fen

Term and pronunciation Fen

Etymology Fen seems to be a very old word appearing in languages such as Old Norse, Old English, Old Frisian, and Old High German, among others.
 
Meaning
A fen, in the usages we're looking at today, is an area of wetland vegetation. They stay so wet due to water being received by rainfall and ground water flow.


Usage and examples
A fen is an ecosystem that creates peat. This is the fabled growth media for gardeners, the use of which is gradually being faded out by law. Leading many companies to investigate alternatives.

The fens are also well known areas for archaeologists as the anaerobic conditions found in the waterlogged soil prevent wood from decay. Flag Fen, first discovered by Francis Pryor, is one such site.

The fens are often confused with bogs. While bogs and fens both have peat in them, the fens have a greater water exchange and are less acidic, therefore their soils are higher in nutrients. Due to the acidic and low nutrient soils, bogs  are home to some carnivorous plants, such as the Common Butterwort (Pinguicula vulgaris), seen below. If you look closely, you can also see a sundew just below the leaf pointing directly left.

History
The earliest use of the word fen that the OED has on record is c888. It was used by Ælfred, King of the West Saxons and of the Anglo Saxons. He was important for speakers of English because he ordered the translation of many texts into the English spoken at the time. This was a dialect of Old English known as West Saxon English.

Bibliography
"fen, n.1". OED Online. March 2013. Oxford University Press. 19 March 2013 <http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/69207?rskey=loQjgC&result=1>.
 "Flag Fen" Wikipedia.org. March 2013. 19 March 2013 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_Fen>
Allaby, M. (2012) Oxford Dictionary of Plant Sciences, Oxford, Oxford University Press
Seargeant, P and Swann, J (Eds) Worlds of English, Abingdon, Routledge
 "Bogs, Fens and Pocosins " nhptv.org. 16 April 2013 <http://www.nhptv.org/natureworks/nwep7f.htm?