Ngege (Oreochromis esculentus, a kind of Tilapia) is commonly consumed throughout Africa's great lakes region. ...

Nivation - snow that does not melt in summer becomes compacted and granular, and is called
névé. When the névé becomes rather deep, repeated thawing an freezing causes comminution of
the rock below it, and action called nivation.
http://www.nps.gov/crla/notes/vol15b.htm

nomothetic
adj.
5Gr nomothetikos < nomothetcs lawgiver < nomos, law (see fol.) + tithenai, to make, DO16
1 giving or enacting laws
2 based on law
3 of a science of general or universal laws Also nom#o[thet$i[cal

page 115 was disappointing

comminution?

Dear etaoin: comminutes is almost the exact word the man said. The Nivation article was the second of two, and in the third or fourth paragraph you will find his words:
"This repeated freezing and thawing acomminutes the rock particles."

Remember years ago, prison "hard labor" meant making little ones out of big ones." Incidentally, this is the process that produces the "cirques" which used to puzzle me.

cirque
n.
5Fr < L circus: see CIRCUS6
1 a circular space or arrangement
2 [Old Poet.] a circle; ring
3 [Archaic] a circus
4 Geol. a steep, hollow excavation high on a mountainside, made by glacial erosion; natural amphitheater

thanks, Bill. that's a new word to me. have a few students I'd like to comminute...