Fifty Words for Snow

"A delightful compendium that brings together language, culture and adventure through frozen landscapes as it shares the meanings behind 50 words for snow, gathered from around the globe." —The Herald

Snow. Every language has its own words for the magical, mesmerizing flakes that fall from the sky. In this exquisite exploration, writer and Arctic traveller Nancy Campbell digs deep into the meanings of fifty words for snow.

In Japanese we encounter yuki-onna—a ‘snow woman’ who drifts through the frosted land. In Icelandic it is hundslappadrífa—‘snowflakes as big as a dog’s paw’—that softly blanket the streets. And in Maori we meet Huka-rere— ‘one of the children of rain and wind.’

From mountain tops and frozen seas to city parks and desert hills, each of these linguistic snow crystals offers a whole world of myth and story—the perfect winter gift.

Nancy Campbell is an award-winning writer, described as 'deft, dangerous and dazzling' by the Poet Laureate, Carol Ann Duffy. Her travels in the Arctic between 2010 and 2017 have resulted in several projects responding to the environment, most recently The Library of Ice: Readings in a Cold Climate (S&S), which was longlisted for the Rathbones Folio Prize 2019. Her previous book on the polar environment, Disko Bay, was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best First Collection in 2016.

Contents Prologue xv 1. .Sea?áš, Sámi. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 2. .Yuki-onna, Japanese.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 3. .Immiaq, Greenlandic. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 4. .Smoor, Scots. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 5. .H¯ ima, Thai. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 6. .Kunstschnee, German.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 7. .Onaabani Giizis / Popogami Giizis, Ojibwemowin.. . 27 8. .Sheleg, Hebrew.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 9. .Sastrugi, Russian. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 10. .Hundslappadrífa, Icelandic. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 11. . Sheen, Kashmiri.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 12. .Cheotnun, Korean.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 13. .Penitentes, Spanish. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 14. .Cirulputenis, Latvian. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 15. .Unatsi, Cherokee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 16. .Theluji, Swahili.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 17. .Avalanche, French.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 18. .Tykky, Finnish. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 19. .Barfani chita, Urdu. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 20. .Snemand, Danish. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 21. .Mávro chióni, Greek.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 22. .Neviera, Italian. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 23. .Xue qiú, Chinese. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 24. .Snöängel, Swedish.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 25. .Gangs, Tibetan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 26. .Calóg shneachta, Irish.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 27. .Huka-rere, Maori. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 28. .Snowboarding, American Sign Language.. . . . . . . 111 29. .Kava, Faroese. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115 30. .Kardelen, Turkish.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119 31. .Omuzira, Luganda.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123 32. .Fokksnø, Norwegian.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131 33. .Sniegas, Lithuanian. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135 34. .Sira, Tundra Nenets.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139 35. .Taccuqt, Tamazight.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143 36. .Himá, Sanskrit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147 37. .Qasa, Quechua. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151 38. .Barado, Amharic. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155 39. .Ttutqiksribvik, Inupiaq. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159 40. .Ais i pundaun olsem kapok, Tok Pisin. . . . . . . . . 165 41. .Hagelslag, Dutch. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169 42. .Eira, Welsh. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173 43. .Itztlacoliuhqui, Nahuatl.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177 44. .Pana, Inuktitut. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181 45. .Jäätee, Estonian.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187 46. .Sparrow batch, Newfoundland English.. . . . . . . . 191 47. .Hau kea, Hawaiian. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195 48. .Virgen de las Nieves, Spanish. . . . . . . . . . . . . 199 49. .Zud, Mongolian.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203 50. .Suncups, English. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207 Acknowledgements 209 References 211