18 Eskimo words for snow

N.B: Since English does not offer the necessary diacritical marks, the spelling used here is an approximation. It is based on the Umingmaktormuit Inuit dialect. Since Inuit, like German, is polysynthetic, it strings participles together, tacking them on to the root word, thus it is difficult to know where to stop. But I have listed 18 clearly differentiable words here. N.B: These data are based on a 1979 article in : The Straight Dope.

akuvijarjuak = thin ice in the sea; anijo = snow on the ground; hiko = ice (generic expression); hikuliaq = thin ice

ivuneq = high pack ice; kaniktshaq = snow (generic expression); kanut = fresh snow without any ice; kuhugaq = icicle

manelaq = pack ice; maneraq = smooth ice (for the skating fans ;-); nahauliq = snow bunting; nilak = freshwater ice

peqalujaq = rather old ice; pugtaq = drift ice; qanik = falling snow; quahak = fresh ice without any snow

tsikut = large broken-up masses of ice blocks; tugartaq = firm, winter ice


And of coarse (which is NOT a typo!) :- kaniktshaq-moritlkatsio-atsuniartoq! = Look at all this f*cking snow ! ;-)


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