When you got nothing to talk about, you talk of weather or sports, right? Apparently, weather and sport have been key talking points among people for centuries. It may sound boring, but it resulted in some pretty mindblowing facts!
“Weather has been a vital part of people’s lives in Scotland for centuries. The number and variety of words in the language show how important it was for our ancestors to communicate about the weather, which could so easily affect their livelihoods,” says Dr Susan Rennie, lecturer in English and Scots Language at the University of Glasgow.
So, one would really imagine that weather words were plenty in order to ensure correct communication. But, 421 words related to snow is definitely a mindblowing record. Members of the Historical Thesaurus of Scots announced that they have discovered over 400 Scottish words for “snow” in their attempt to record every Scottish word in existence.
The previous record for most words for “snow” was held by the Inuit people who claim to have almost 50 words. Well…Scots have about 371 more!
No matter the type of snow, there is a Scots word for it. A few Scots examples include:
- feefle – to swirl, , as of snow round a corner
- flindrikin – a slight snow shower
- snaw-pouther – fine driving snow
- spitters – small drops or flakes of wind-driven rain or snow
- unbrak – the beginning of a thaw
- fyoonach – a dusting of snow
- driffle – to snow lightly
The thesaurus is based on the content of the Dictionary of the Scots Language, but researchers are also appealing for members of the public to come forward with suggestions of words that have not yet been included.
They always welcome the add ons sen by citizens as they enrichen the thesaurus with previously unknown words. People are also welcome to sen pictures and/or illustrations which help to describe certain words. Of course…that is needed when you have 421 words for one thing!
Sources: BBC, The Guardian, Hello Giggles
