In the popular and scientific literature they write that the Eskimos have dozens or even hundreds of words to refer to snow. Check if this is so.

For more than a century, in a huge number of scientific and popular books, and now on tens of thousands of Internet sites you can find information that there are many words in the Eskimos languages to refer to snow. Moreover, as much as how much, the information varies. There are estimates in the range from 4 to 500. In the Russian -speaking context, it seems, most often they speak of two hundred.

It is argued that there is no common concept for snow in the language of Eskimos at all. Here is what the famous American linguist Benjamin Warf wrote about this in 1940: “We have the same word for falling snow, snow lying on the ground, a compacted, like ice of snow, adhesive snow, snow to the wind. For the Eskimos, the existence of such a comprehensive word is simply unthinkable. He would say that falling snow, adhesive, etc. - The concepts are different in terms of use and in terms of perception. He uses different words for them and for other types of snow. ”

Many modern scientists agree that this is a myth and a linguist Jeffrey Pullum He even called him "the great Eskimos vocabulary deception." Although he did not appear at all from scratch. This story was very convenient as an illustration of innovative ideas for the first half of the 20th century that “primitive languages” does not exist, and the environment and cultural characteristics affect the vocabulary.

This example was the first to use the American anthropologist Franz Boas in 1911, who lived among the Eskimos on the island of Baffinov Earth and for almost a year and Compiled a dictionary their language. He wrotethat the Eskimos have four different words to refer to snow. But the idea made a popular idea after the above -mentioned Warf, who gave five examples of such words, and they all differed from the Boat examples.

Later, other authors overestimated the number of “snow words”. So, in 1978, their number in publications reached 50, and on February 9, 1984 in the newspaper The New York Times It was already said about a hundred. Moreover, with a clearly erroneous link, everything is on the same WARF. Nowadays, in the collections of “Entertaining Facts” they are already writing about 200, 400 and even 500 words.

Part of the problem is whether to consider the same root words different or the same word. “The language of the Eskimos is polysinthical, which means that in it it comes into one very long word a bunch of information, which in Swedish or English would become a whole proposal,” Writes Swedish linguist Michael Parkvall. “Partly, we can do this in the Swedish: we say to one word Lastbilschaufför (“ The driver of the truck. ” - Approx. Transl.), While the British will say Lorry Driver in two words.” And the root for “snow” for many of these words can be the same.

But another thing is important. People have collected similar ones for comparison Lists In English and in the languages of other peoples, who know firsthand about snow. And everywhere it turns out at least several dozen individual words and phrases, including different roots. To go far, let's Take it Only the Russian language and only the most commonly used options for snow in different types: Buran, blizzard, frost, hoarfrost, avalanche, blizzard, drinker, powder, snowstorm, snow, snowdrift. More than ten pieces have already been gained.

Studies of “snow words” in different languages continue. Someone does not get enough, after all Finds Modern Canadian Eskimos have about 50 (without taking into account polysinthics) and claims that the British are far from them, others count 180 by the Sami, third - As much as 421 by the Scots. Everything stated, apparently, does not allow us to unequivocally talk about some kind of “snowy uniqueness” of the language of the Eskimos. However, whether to consider the story as a whole as a myth or not to consider, decide for yourself.