The Words We Use for Air

From a hiking path, looking south across Lake Tahoe (photo courtesy of my family)

We geologists usually think about knowledge coming from data – either observational or technical measurements. When I heard that the Hawaiian language had many, many words for air, I was intrigued to think about all the nuances of language and the Indigenous knowledge that has gone into those words. 

And then I assembled my own list of words for air and realize that this list of 26 words contains years of observations and experiences by scientists and plain ole human beings who live through the gentle and the extreme. 

Air, Atmosphere
Blast, Breath, Breeze
Chinook, Draft
Fog, Fresh Air
Gale, Gust
Haze, Heavens, Hot, Howling, Humid, Hurricane
Mistral, Puff, Smog
Tempest, Typhoon
Waft, Whiff, Wind
Zephyr

I write in my book “When an infant is born on a boat during the rainy season in the Cambodian lower Mekong basin, her natural world consists of water, a flat surface extending to the horizon.” Today, as the sun hangs low on the horizon, I drive westward to Davis, California. Just west of Sacramento, the highway rises over vast expanses of flat land – fields adjacent to the river and usually, seasonally filled with stubble, bright green grass, or waving stalks of rice. Today, I see flat expanses of water (at 65 miles per hour in late afternoon traffic). To be honest, there are some hills in the hazy distance. But water, water everywhere – January, 2023. I’ve added two words to my list of air: 

Bomb Cyclone and Atmospheric River. 

Who knew these words a couple of months ago? (ok, my atmospheric science readers do!) These words have entered our common lexicon.

Words for Snow

I have my own words for snow.  Growing up in Kentucky and living most of my adult life on the US east coast, I thought of most snow as wet and heavy turning to grey mush before it went away.  But in Colorado it is fluffy and white and seems to disappear into thin air.  In northern Minnesota, show is crunchy. In Singapore it is simply surreal, manufactured in a building for people practicing for their overseas ski trip.

Happy snow with Molly, my grand-dog, at Tahoe National Forest (photo courtesy of my family)

I found an article on Rebecca Thomassi, an Inuk woman interested in retaining the Inuit knowledge that her ancestors have observed and maintained. “She travels into the land around Kangirsuk learning some of the 52 names for different types of snow that exist in Inuktitut. She feels it’s important to learn the tools and language that were developed in Inuit Culture to pass on to future generations.”

This article is in Aeon Magazine.The film was produced by non-profit organization, Wapikoni Mobile, that helps Indigenous filmmakers craft films that reflect their cultures, issues, and rights. Since 2012, the digital magazine Aeon publishes “some of the most profound and provocative thinking on the web. We ask the big questions and find the freshest, most original answers, provided by leading thinkers on science, philosophy, society and the arts.”

What I’m reading

My reading this month has little to do with the Earth per se, but David Whyte’s book Consolations: The Solace, Nourishment and Underlying Meaning is all about words. In fact, he uses many words in ways I cannot imagine doing myself. I aim to be more lyrical in my writing - but, alas! (new edition, 2022, Many Rivers Press, 267 pp)

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And something fun

This month’s Why I Love This Rock has a rock that only a nerd could love. And I do love it. It is a dark, heavy, fascinating lump of a rock.

More about Earth to Susan

I am writing a book about how people see the Earth in different ways. I will bring science, poetry, music, theology, literature, philosophy, history, geography, politics, and economics to these pages – all in relationship to Earth. 

This sixth newsletter has brought you musings on one of Earth’s classical elements, Air. It superseded other topics as Californians are fixated on the air this month.

I believe that helping people understand that we all see the Earth in different ways will open conversations to help find solutions for the many issues facing the planet we call home. 

I plan on one newsletter per month, and I hope you will continue to read this and share with your friends!  It’s free. 

Until next month, 

Susan