Permafrost as a historical object

PERMAFROST AS HISTORICAL OBJECT

On 19 January 1953, Inna Poire submitted a report to he rsection chies at the United States Geological Survey (USGS). The subject was the translation into English of a Russian language book about ‘frozen ground’. In her chapter of work, Poire drew particular attention to the word permafrost: “‘Permafrost’ is a term introduced by the American engineers, and is very inadequate, she wrote. She noted that permafrost ‘has been considered a translation of the Russian vechnaia merzlota.’ But, she explained, whereas ‘vechnaia means - continuous (in time), or long lasting, or usual’, nevertheless ‘it does not mean fixed, or unchangeable, i.e. it does not mean permanent.’ She asserted that ‘merzlota, in general, is one od the least permanent phenomena in nature.’ Therefore, ‘all terms derived from permafrost, such as permafrostology, permafrozen, permafrost process to not comply with the actuality, for freezing is not permanend under the present condiirons on the earth, nown to us.’