Eskimo words for Snow
Stuart P. Derby
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Does "Eskimo" REALLY have some megaboss number of words for snow?
Well that depends on what "megaboss" means, of course. And it also depends
on what language you decide is "Eskimo". The dialects spoken by coastal native
peoples from the east of Siberia to Greenland are classed as Eskimo, but
many scholars divide them into two languages, Yupik and Inuit, with some
scholars further sub-dividing these dialects. Inuit (also called Inupik)
is the best candidate from a folkloric point of view, being spoken most widely,
from Greenland to northeastern Alaska, having been written earlier (1742),
having about twice as many speakers, and having had longer and greater contact
with "Western Civilization". (Greenlandic Inuit contains 4 words borrowed
from medieval Norse.[1])
Another complication to the issue is simply the notion of "word".
Languages vary quite drastically in how the base units of meaning
(morphemes) are combined into words, if they're combined at all, and
our common notion of "word" needs clarifying. For example, in English,
are "book" and "books" two SEPARATE words? I would guess that most of
us would think not. (What about "book", "handbook", "guidebook", "workbook"?)
However, many languages are "isolating", wherein one word corresponds to
one element of the situation, and would use two separate words to say "books".
A speaker of such a language might well regard "book" and "books" as two
separate words. The Eskimo languages are at the other extreme, and are the
prototypical example of a polysynthetic language[2], wherein one word contains
several elements of the situation. This allows very complex ideas to be
expressed in one word, e.g. 'tikitqaarminaitnigaa' "he(1) said that he(2)
would not be able to arrive first"[1].
Thus "my snow", "your snow", etc., would each be one word in Inuit,
a stem form with a possessive affix. The Eskimo languages use derived words
extensively, and there are fewer than 2,000 base stems in the West Greenlandic
dialect[1] With all that said, I'll just present some word lists and let
everyone come up with their own opinion...
10 words for ice and snow from Labradoran Inuit[3]
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This word list is extracted from an Eskimo to English "dictionary"
and is definitely not comprehensive. This was the worst such compilation
I have ever worked with; among other problems, the compilers' attempts to
alphabetize things, even short indices, failed miserably (e.g. "snow" before
"seasons"). Consider also this from the preface:
Be it noticed beforehand that the Eskimo are not agreed in the use of
their language with reference to many words -- not only that in the South
here and there other expressions are used, and also that to many a word
another meaning is given than in the North, but even in one and the same
place not infrequently such differences are found. And frequently the
female sex has again its peculiar expressions. With regard to the latter,
not much notice has been taken in composing this dictionary, because
the men often only laugh about them; ...
1. 'ice' sikko
2. 'bare ice' tingenek
3. 'snow (in general)' aput
4. 'snow (like salt)' pukak
5. 'soft deep snow' mauja
6. 'snowdrift' tipvigut
7. 'soft snow' massak
8. 'watery snow' mangokpok
9. 'snow filled with water' massalerauvok
10. 'soft snow' akkilokipok
49 words for snow and ice from West Greenlandic[4]
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This word list is taken from a book on West Greenlandic grammar
is almost certainly not comprehensive. I've entered the list as it appears
in Fortescue's "West Greenlandic". Note that in Fortescue 'q' corresponds
to 'k' in Peck.
1. 'sea-ice' siku (in plural = drift ice)
2. 'pack-ice/large expanses of ice in motion' sikursuit, pl.
(compacted drift ice/ice field = sikut iqimaniri)
3. 'new ice' sikuliaq/sikurlaaq (solid ice cover = nutaaq.)
4. 'thin ice' sikuaq (in plural = thin ice floes)
5. 'rotten (melting) ice floe' sikurluk
6. 'iceberg' iluliaq (ilulisap itsirnga = part of iceberg below waterline)
7. '(piece of) fresh-water ice' nilak
8. 'lumps of ice stranded on the beach' issinnirit, pl.
9. 'glacier' (also ice forming on objects) sirmiq (sirmirsuaq = Inland Ice)
10. 'snow blown in (e.g. doorway)' sullarniq
11. 'rime/hoar-frost' qaqurnak/kanirniq/kaniq
12. 'frost (on inner surface of e.g. window)' iluq
13. 'icy mist' pujurak/pujuq kanirnartuq
14. 'hail' nataqqurnat
15. 'snow (on ground)' aput (aput sisurtuq = avalanche)
16. 'slush (on ground)' aput masannartuq
17. 'snow in air/falling' qaniit (qanik = snowflake)
18. 'air thick with snow' nittaalaq (nittaallat, pl. = snowflakes;
nittaalaq nalliuttiqattaartuq = flurries)
19. 'hard grains of snow' nittaalaaqqat, pl.
20. 'feathery clumps of falling snow' qanipalaat
21. 'new fallen snow' apirlaat
22. 'snow crust' pukak
23. 'snowy weather' qannirsuq/nittaatsuq
24. 'snowstorm' pirsuq/pirsirsursuaq
25. 'large ice floe' iluitsuq
26. 'snowdrift' apusiniq
27. 'ice floe' puttaaq
28. 'hummocked ice/pressure ridges in pack ice' maniillat/ingunirit, pl.
29. 'drifting lump of ice' kassuq (dirty lump of glacier-calved ice = anarluk)
30. 'ice-foot (left adhering to shore)' qaannuq
31. 'icicle' kusugaq
32. 'opening in sea ice imarnirsaq/ammaniq (open water amidst ice = imaviaq)
33. 'lead (navigable fissure) in sea ice' quppaq
34. 'rotten snow/slush on sea' qinuq
35. 'wet snow falling' imalik
36. 'rotten ice with streams forming' aakkarniq
37. 'snow patch (on mountain, etc.)' aputitaq
38. 'wet snow on top of ice' putsinniq/puvvinniq
39. 'smooth stretch of ice' manirak (stretch of snow-free ice = quasaliaq)
40. 'lump of old ice frozen into new ice' tuaq
41. 'new ice formed in crack in old ice' nutarniq
42. 'bits of floating' naggutit, pl.
43. 'hard snow' mangiggal/mangikaajaaq
44. 'small ice floe (not large enough to stand on)' masaaraq
45. 'ice swelling over partially frozen river, etc. from water seeping
up to the surface' siirsinniq
46. 'piled-up ice-floes frozen together' tiggunnirit
47. 'mountain peak sticking up through inland ice' nunataq
48. 'calved ice (from end of glacier)' uukkarnit
49. 'edge of the (sea) ice' sinaaq
Conclusions
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Does Eskimo have some megaboss number of words for snow? It depends
on how you count, but they certainly have more than English.
Some miscellany.
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While English "igloo" meaning 'snow house' comes from Inuit,
"iglo" (or "illu") more generally means 'house' or home' in most
dialects. Sometimes houses are constructed of peat[3,4].
English "kayak" comes from Intuit "qayaq" (means the same)[3,4].
The stereotypical Eskimo name Nanook corresponds to "nanuq" 'polar bear'[4].
Scholars sure do have understated ways of sniping at each other:
"In fact Bourquin's tendency to describe the Labrador dialect by quoting
at length from Kleinschmidt's description of Greenlandic is unavoidably
a major methodological impediment for present-day researchers.[5]"
References
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[1] Encyc. Britannica,15th Ed.,1984, ISBN 0-85229-413-1.
Macropaedia Vol. 6, p962-964, "Eskimo-Aleut Languages".
[2] Historical Linguistics: An Introduction, 1973, Winfred P. Lehman,
ISBN 0-03-078370-4.p46-49
[3] Eskimo-English Dictionary: Compiled from Erdman's Eskimo-German
Edition of 1864, 1925, Rev. Edmund J. Peck, D.D. (C.M.S. Missionary,
Apostle to the Eskimos). We don't need no stinkin' ISBN!
[4] West Greenlandic,1984, Michael Fortescue. ISBN 0-7099-1069-X
[5] Eskimo Languages: Their Present Day Conditions, 1979,
Basse&Jensen, eds., p.94.
Stu "just the faqs, ma'am" Derby
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Stu Derby |"Mr. Kelsey got into the dirt business in the usual way,
sde...@bcm.tmc.edu | studying international relations with an emphasis on
Baylor Coll. Med. | Portugese-speaking countries..." WSJ,6/25/93,p.A1,col.4