How did horror frost get its name?

Answer 1

The correct spelling is hoarfrost. Do an internet search with that spelling and you get loads of info. Hoarfrost A deposit of interlocking ice crystals (hoar crystals) formed by direct sublimation on objects, usually those of small diameter freely exposed to the air, such as tree branches, plant stems and leaf edges, wires, poles, etc., which surface is sufficiently cooled, mostly by nocturnal radiation, to cause the direct sublimation of the water vapor contained in the ambient air. from: http://nsidc.org/arcticmet/glossary/hoarfrost.html Meaning: Hoar-frost first turns up in written English in 1290 as hore frost. Strictly speaking, hoar-frost is the kind of frost that turns everything it forms upon white or gray. Due to the fact that hair turns gray with age, things that are white or gray are often associated with old age and this is the original sense of hoar. Old English har and Old High German herboth meant "old" or, as a secondary meaning, "venerable, august". The Old Teutonic root is *hairo-z which derives ultimately from an Indo-European color word, *kei-. Some words related to hoar are horehound and hue. From: http://www.takeourword.com/TOW183/page2.html