AIGUILLE (Fr. for

See also:

• NEEDLE (O. Eng. ncedl; the word appears in various forms in Teutonic languages, Ger. Nadel, Dutch naal, the root being ne-, to sew, cf. Ger. nahen, and probably Lat. nere, to spin, Gr. vi)ats, spinning)

needle)  , the sharp jagged points above the snow-line, standing upon the massif of a mountain split by frost action along joints or planes of cleavage with sides too steep for snow to rest upon them . Aiguilles are thus the forms remaining from the splitting up of the high ridges with house-roof structure into detached pinnacles .