LINGUIST List 5.1293
Sun 13 Nov 1994
Disc: Words for snow in Eskimo and English Lgs
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Directory
, Eskimo words for "snow", "ice", etc.
, Eskimo snow in context
David Prager Branner, English snow words
Message 1: Eskimo words for "snow", "ice", etc.
Date: Fri, 11 Nov 1994 13:17:28 Eskimo words for "snow", "ice", etc.
From: <WDEREUSECCIT.ARIZONA.EDU>
Subject: Eskimo words for "snow", "ice", etc.
As an Eskimologist and an anthropologist, I strongly concur with
Woodbury's and Hill's recent messages on the topic. I have two
responses: one to the person who suggested that maybe what was
peculiar about Eskimo words for snow is not the number of lexical items
to be found in a dictionary, but rather that these words are used more
often and even by non-specialists within the culture. I am sorry that
I can't track down the name of this person, which I must have deleted
by mistake. But this is an interesting idea. My answer is that
Eskimos talk about snow about as often as a Sahara Tuareg would talk
about rain, in other words, not very often. Remember that the Arctic
is technically a desert; i.e. there is very little precipitation,
although whatever snow that does fall remains on the ground, an~rd is
blown a}iround into funny shapes, for which there is of course, a
technical terminology, used mainly by huntersd who need to use these
things as landmarks. Snow (as a ground cover or falling) is really not
very important to Eskimos. I suggest that we start looking at some of
the languages of the Subarctic groups of Canada (Cree, Chipewyan), these
people live in deep snow, and probably talk about it a lot more!
My second response is for George Fowler who suggest that there might be
an fashion of Eskimo words for ----- going on. He talks about 50 words
for ice in Greenlandic. He was speaking facetiously, of course, but
there is a point to be made here. Eskimos who hunt on ice (such as the
Siberian Yupik Eskimos I worked with) have an incredibly detailed
technical terminology for ice conditions, icebergs, ice thickness and
movements. For Eskimo hunters, these things are concretely a matter of
life and death. So Eskimos do have many words for ice, and as for snow,
this is a technical terminology, and as for snow, it is entirely based
on a few stems that actually mean "ice", and on many stems that do not
fundamentally mean "ice". So, at least in some Eskimo languages,
such as Cnetral Siberian Yupik Eskimo, there are actually more
expressions (or if you want "words") for "ice" than for "snow".
For the definition of a "word" and "stem" in Eskimo, I refer y'all
back to Woodbury's statement. The point is that technical terminology
for things that interest Eskimos is no different from technical
terminology that is relevant to, say, Swiss cuckoo clock makers.
Willem J. de Reuse
Dept. of Anthropology
University of Arizona
Tucson, AZ 85721
Message 2: Eskimo snow in context
Date: Sat, 12 Nov 94 17:18:37 ESEskimo snow in context
From: <amrjupiter.cs.wayne.edu>
Subject: Eskimo snow in context
As the quotation from Whorf shows, he was concerned with the issue
of whether there is a general term like 'snow' in Eskimo languages,
not with whether Eskimo (or English) have a multitude of specialized
terms. It may be useful to point out that in the second half of the
19th century and thereafter one of the big issues concerning linguists
and anthropologists was whether "primitive" people and their "primitive"
languages possessed abstract terms. I think that we must view Whorf's
and others' preoccupations in this context. (It may be of interest
to add that the other great issues regarding "primitive" languages was
whether they possess clearly defined sounds, since it was widely claimed
that speakersof such languages "alternate" between different pronunications.
It was Boas who showed that this was an illusion, but I think that many
people would not listen, and that works such as Sapir's paper on the sound
pattenrs and even on psychological reality are largely to be understoods
as attempts to defend the Boas position). In any case, it should be
clear that the issue was never how many words a language might have
for specific kinds of anything, but whether it has words for the general
types or kinds. And in this context the only question is whether
the Eskimo languages have one word for 'snow' like English or two
like Ancient Greek or whether they only have a variety of more
particular words for kinds of snow.
Alexis
Message 3: English snow words
Date: Sat, 12 Nov 1994 15:36:48 English snow words
From: David Prager Branner <charmiiu.washington.edu>
Subject: English snow words
Jonathan David Bobaljik posted a message to Vol. 5-1276 of this list in
which he discusses the various Yup'ik words for snow that have been
contributed by Anthony Woodbury. For the sake of comparison he has a list
of 9 or 10 English words for snow and snow-like things. I thought it
would be useful to find out whether each of these English words means
_primarily_ snow or whether the snow sense is derived, figurative, or
otherwise secondary. I have consulted the various editions of the Oxford
English Dictionary. My results are as follows:
A. Acceptable cases:
1. snow: A good English word with a respectable pedigree. Means
primarily snow.
2. sleet: Also good. By the way, is there an Eskimo term corresponding
to this?
3. slush: Also good.
4. avalanche: This word seems to have referred to snow avalanches from
the beginning.
5. blizzard: The first edition of the OED says, "A modern word. ... As
applied to a 'snow-squall,' the word became general in the American
newspapers during the severe winter of 1880-81; but according to the
_Milwaukee Republican_ =FF 4 March 1881, it had been so applied in the
_Northern Vindicator_ (Esthersville, Iowa) between 1860 and 1870. It was
apparently in colloquial use in the West much earlier..." The latest
edition of the OED has a citation from 1859.
***********************************************************************
B. Doubtful cases:
1. cornice: This is really an architectural term, meaning the "crown" on
a building. Its use to refer to a type of snow formation is merely
figurative.
2. firn: This is certainly a very rare and specialized word. The OED
marks it "not naturalized"; its synonym _n'ev'e_ is marked the same way.
I would accept neither.
3. drift: With the meaning 'snow-drift' this word is attested c. 1300,
("This castel..quitter es pan snau drif[t].") but it clearly has too many
other related senses, such as "off-course movement of a boat" and "gist of
what someone is saying." Drift is related to "to drive". Compare
Bobaljik's discussion of Yup'ik _natquik_ 'drifting snow'.
4. flurry: This word means primarily 'gust' or 'squall'. Washington
Irving is cited in 1836 talking about "flurries of snow", but there are
other cases of flurries of rain, birds. Conclusion: not primarily a snow
word.
5. sinkhole: Bobaljik rejects _muruaneq_ 'soft, deep snow', offering
"sinkhole" as roughly comparable (and presumably also unacceptable).=20
"Sinkhole" is not in the OED. My understanding of a sinkhole is any
depression in which liquid collects, especially in the ground. I do not
think it has anything to do with snow per se.
**************************************************************************
C. Special case:
1. frost: I have left "frost" out of the English list, since it has more
to do with frozen dew and ice than with snow. I have also omitted "rime"
and "hoarfrost" ("hoar" is figurative for old age). Accordingly, I urge
that words for frost be omitted from the Eskimo lists.
**************************************************************************
D. Conclusion:
My count is 5 good English words whose primary meanings are snow or forms
of snow. Bobaljik also allows only 5 "exclusively snow-related simple
roots" in Yup'ik (excluding "frost" as explained above).
I am not a specialist in English etymology, but I am experienced at using
the OED. Is _muruaneq_ 'soft, deep snow' really not a purely snow word,
as Bobaljik says? I would also like to know what "Eskimo" languages there
are other than Yup'ik for which snow-words are recorded in detail.
David Prager Branner, Yuen Ren Society
Asian L&L, DO-21, University of Washington
Seattle, WA 98195=09=09=09=09<charmiiu.washington.edu>