# nine Eskimo words for snow **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [January 20, 2006, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nine-eskimo-words-for-snow/340770 "2006-01-20T02:59:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![flojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7feea3/32.png) [@flojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flojo)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2006, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nine-eskimo-words-for-snow/340770/1 "2006-01-20T02:59:46Z")
I Once read a novel (author I don’t recall) “Simella’s Sense of Snow” ( which was made into a movie) In which the setting was I believe Greenland. In It the author stated that the Eskimo has more then 300 words to describe snow but no word for just snow. I am just wondering if that is true. t/u flojo 😕 ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2006, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nine-eskimo-words-for-snow/340770/2 "2006-01-20T03:34:13Z")
Welcome to the SDMB, flojo. When commenting on one of Cecil’s online columns it is appreciated if you could provide a link to the same. Doing so can be as simple as pasting the URL into your post, making sure to leave a blank space one either side of it. The URL for the column “What are the nine Eskimo words for snow?” is [http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1\_297.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_297.html) Cecil wrote a followup column that is relevant: [Are there nine Eskimo words for snow (revisited)?](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/010202.html) There are several words for different types of snow and I presume several to describe it, but it’s not possible to pin down an exact number. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2006, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nine-eskimo-words-for-snow/340770/3 "2006-01-20T03:56:29Z")
> [@flojo](#): > > the Eskimo has more then 300 words to describe snow but no word for just snow. I think I misunderstood the question the first time. Are you asking if the language has a single term for snow in general, as opposed to specific terms for falling snow, snow on the ground, slushy snow, etc.? The Eskimos from northern Alaska to Greenland are Inuit. The Inuit speak any number of closely related languages (or dialects if you prefer). One of them is Inupiaq. This [Inupiaq-English dictionary](http://www.alaskool.org/Language/dictionaries/inupiaq/dictionary.htm) defines _aniu_ as “any snow” and _apun_ as “snow”. There are in addition many specialized terms for powder snow, soft snow, sugar snow, crusty snow, etc. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2006, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nine-eskimo-words-for-snow/340770/4 "2006-01-20T04:22:29Z")
> [@bibliophage](#): > > There are in addition many specialized terms for powder snow, soft snow, sugar snow, crusty snow, etc. Do they have a word for “yellow” snow? What? I was just asking… ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2006, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nine-eskimo-words-for-snow/340770/5 "2006-01-20T04:43:34Z")
> [@](#): > > In my spare time I have been attempting to construct an Eskimo sentence in my basement, such as will be suitable for the season. I have not get it perfected yet, but it is coming along pretty well, and with a little work it might pass for the genuine article. So far I have: _kaniktshaq moritlkatsio atsuniartoq_. > > When completed, this sentence will proclaim: “Look at all this freaking snow.” At present it means: “Observe the snow. It fornicates.” This is not poetic, but it is serviceable, and I intend to employ it at the next opportunity. I, for one, want to know how this important work has progressed, lo these 26 years. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2006, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nine-eskimo-words-for-snow/340770/6 "2006-01-20T04:45:30Z")
> [@flojo](#): > > I Once read a novel (author I don’t recall) “Simella’s Sense of Snow” ( which was made into a movie) [Miss Smilla’s Feeling for Snow](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1860461670/qid=1137732253/sr=8-2/ref=pd_bbs_2/102-8078499-7981706?n=507846&s=books&v=glance) by Peter Hoeg. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2006, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nine-eskimo-words-for-snow/340770/7 "2006-01-20T06:34:08Z")
> [@Askance](#): > > [Miss Smilla’s Feeling for Snow](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1860461670/qid=1137732253/sr=8-2/ref=pd_bbs_2/102-8078499-7981706?n=507846&s=books&v=glance) by Peter Hoeg. In the US it came out as _Smilla’s Sense of Snow_ for some reason. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2006, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nine-eskimo-words-for-snow/340770/8 "2006-01-20T08:41:48Z")
> [@Hilarity N. Suze](#): > > In the US it came out as _Smilla’s Sense of Snow_ for some reason. Admittedly I’m Norwegian, so my aim could be off, but I think that’s a better translation of the title. ---
**Author:** ![Ben\_Drankin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4da419/32.png) [@Ben\_Drankin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ben_Drankin)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2006, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nine-eskimo-words-for-snow/340770/9 "2006-01-22T07:14:38Z")
“… the Eskimo has more than 300 words to describe snow …” No! No! Ten Thousand times No! This is a self-regenerating myth which some authorities on Inuit and other Greenland languages have been trying to kill off since at least the 1980s. See “The Great Eskimo Vocabulary Hoax, and Other Irreverent Essays on the Study of Language,” by Geoffrey K. Pullum (1991, Univ. of Chicago Press). Pullum says it started out with far lower false numbers like 12 or 29 and grew to a published claim of 400 words for snow (and whether you wanted nouns or adjectives, they were in error). I can remember grad students in the 1970s passing along this “news” all starry-eyed about cultural psycholinguistics implications, but escalations in exaggerations have taken away all the charm of the myth and made it sound tedious. I wish I could see the movie you mentioned – curious to see concept they underlined. ---
**Author:** ![mr.jp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@mr.jp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr.jp)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2006, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nine-eskimo-words-for-snow/340770/10 "2006-01-23T00:25:58Z")
Dane here. Yeah,“Sense of snow” is right. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2007, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nine-eskimo-words-for-snow/340770/12 "2007-07-17T01:59:02Z")
[QUOTE=Askance] [QUOTE=Cecil Adams] In my spare time I have been attempting to construct an Eskimo sentence in my basement, such as will be suitable for the season. I have not get it perfected yet, but it is coming along pretty well, and with a little work it might pass for the genuine article. So far I have: kaniktshaq moritlkatsio atsuniartoq. When completed, this sentence will proclaim: “Look at all this fucking snow.” At present it means: “Observe the snow. It fornicates.” This is not poetic, but it is serviceable, and I intend to employ it at the next opportunity. [/QUOTE] I, for one, want to know how this important work has progressed, lo these 26 years. [/QUOTE] Tempus Fugit, Unca Cec. How’s it coming along? You won’t live forever, you know. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2007, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nine-eskimo-words-for-snow/340770/13 "2007-07-17T03:44:40Z")
> [@The Perfect Master](#): > > I have not get it perfected yet Maybe Cecil should concentrate on perfecting his English. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2007, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nine-eskimo-words-for-snow/340770/14 "2007-07-17T03:58:28Z")
So just how many words for snow does English have? Off the top of my head: Snow Flakes White stuff Drifts Powder Hardpack Slush Flurry Blizzard Glaze That’s ten right there, without even bringing in related concepts like “sleet” or “hail”, nor using any etymologically-related terms like “snowfall”, “snow showers”, or “whiteout”. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2007, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nine-eskimo-words-for-snow/340770/15 "2007-07-17T04:11:35Z")
There’s a variation on that over here involving _x_ number of words in Thai for “smile.” It ain’t true.