If Youre a Nature Lover, You Need These Words in Your Vocabulary

If Youre a Nature Lover, You Need These Words in Your Vocabulary Robert Macfarlane loves words about nature and our interaction with it. In fact, he loves it so much that he compiled Landmarks, a collection of words used across America, England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales- some of which have been long forgotten- to describe natural scenery.In an article written for The Guardian, he explains why he felt the need to publish this compendium:†¦Although we have fabulous compendia of flora, fauna and insects (Richard Mabeys Flora Britannica and Mark Cockers Birds Britannica chief among them), we lack a Terra Britannica, as it were: a gathering of terms for the land and its weathers- terms used by crofters, fishermen, farmers, sailors, scientists, miners, climbers, soldiers, shepherds, poets, walkers and unrecorded others for whom particularised ways of describing place have been vital to everyday practice and perception.Robert Macfarlane, The GuardianIn that same article, he further details the events that led him to collect these words:The same s ummer I was on Lewis, a new edition of the Oxford Junior Dictionary was published. A sharp-eyed reader noticed that there had been a culling of words concerning nature. Under pressure, Oxford University Press revealed a list of the entries it no longer felt to be relevant to a modern-day childhood. The deletions included acorn, adder, ash, beech, bluebell, buttercup, catkin, conker, cowslip, cygnet, dandelion, fern, hazel, heather, heron, ivy, kingfisher, lark, mistletoe, nectar, newt, otter, pasture and willow. The words taking their places in the new edition included attachment, block-graph, blog, broadband, bullet-point, celebrity, chatroom, committee, cut-and-paste, MP3 player and voice-mail.Robert Macfarlane, The GuardianAs Macfarlanes story about the Oxford Junior Dictionary shows, we live in a time when we are generally less connected to nature and to our surrounding natural world. This is especially true for children, who know more about gaming systems and iPads than they do about the sound of the wind through the trees and capturing fireflies. What does this mean for our next generation of poets and writers- writers who are losing the vernacular that was once so common among artists who explored the natural world around them?With this in mind, here is a list of words that shouldnt be forgotten by poets and writers who are likewise nature lovers. Teach them to your children so they wont be completely lost.Wind, rain, snow, and stormsAfter-drop (Poetic)Raindrop which falls after a cloud has passed (first cited in Sir Philip Sidneys Arcadia, c 1580)Airie (Caithness)Gentle breath of windAchram (Irish)Very heavy rain (literally, boisterous behavior)Billow (East Anglia)SnowdriftBrim (Orkney)Cold, drying wind that withers plantsBlacthorn Winter(Herefordshire) Winter that turns very cold late in the seasonCith (Gaelic)Shower of warm, drizzling rainDomra (Shetland)Obscuration of the sky by hazeDribs (Leicestershire, Northamptonshire)Rain which falls in drops f rom the eaves of thatched housesDringey (Lincolnshire)Light rain that still manages to get you soaking wetFeetings (Suffolk)Footprints of creatures as they appear in the snowGleamy (Essex)Showers with fitful sunshineGoldfoil (Poetic)Coined by the poet Gerard Manley Hopkins, describing a sky lit by lightning in zigzag dints and creasings.Heavengravel (Poetic)Hailstones Gerard Manley HopkinsLattin, letty (Shropshire and Somerset, respectively)Enough rain to make outdoor work difficultOogly (Cornish)Referring to the sky, when it foretells wild weatherPayling (Northamptonshire)Wind-driven showerPenitent (Geography)Spike or pinnacle of compact snow and ice left standing after differential melting of a snowfieldPetrichor (Scientific)The pleasant, distinctive small of rain in the air, sometimes detectable before the rain has even begun to fall, and especially strong when the first rain falls after a period of warm, dry weatherPirr (Shetlandic)A light breath of wind, such as will make a cat s paw on the waterPuthery (Cheshire)Intense stillness and humidity immediately before a storm breaksRoarie bummlers (Scottish)Fast-moving storm cloudsSnow-bones (Yorkshire)Patches of snow seen stretching along ridges, in ruts, or in furrows after a partial thawUngive (Northamptonshire and East Anglia)To thawVirga (Meteorological)Observable streak or shaft of precipitation that falls from a cloud but evaporates before reaching the groundWeather-mooth (Caithness)Clear area in the sky, low on the horizon, from which the clouds appear to streamWhewan (Orkney)Wind that howls around cornersWhiffle (Kent)Referring to the wind, when it comes in unpredictable gustsWhittle (Cheshire)A strong gust of wine, supposedly named after Captain Whittle, whose coffin was hurled to the ground from its bearers shoulders by such a gustWilliwaw (Nautical)Sudden, violent squallWolfsnow (Poetic)Dangerously heavy and wind-driven snow (Gerard Manley Hopkins)MountaineeringAlpenglow (Mountaineering)Light of the setting or rising sun seen illuminating high mountains or the underside of cloudsAlpenglow is the light of the setting or rising sun seen illuminating high mountains or the underside of clouds. Photo by eberhard grossgasteiger on Unsplash.Chockstone (Mountaineering)A stone wedged in a vertical cleft or chimney of rock, impeding progressChoss (Mountaineering)Rock that is unsuitable for climbing due to its instability or friabilityCreachann (Gaelic)Grassless, stony hilltopMoel (Welsh)A hilltop or mountain summit that is treeless and roundedNick (Yorkshire)Gap in the hills through which weather comesSlip-rift (Geological)Cave or chasm formed by the peeling away of one rock layer from another under the duress of gravityWaterAber (Welsh)Mouth of a river (into the sea); confluence of a lesser with a larger riverAbhainn (Gaelic)Substantial river, often running to the sea, with numerous tributariesAcker (North Sea Coast)Ripple on the surface of the waterBala (Welsh)Outflow of a river from a lakeBorbhan (Gaelic)Purling or murmur of a streamCaochan (Scottish)A small stream flowing across moorland and boggy ground with its channel concealed by heather and other moor vegetationCymer (Welsh)Confluence of two or more streams Moonwake (Poetic) The reflection of moonlight on a body of waterFaoi (Gaelic)Noisy streamHurdifell (Shetland)Steep, rocky hill covered in bouldersJabble (Scottish)Agitated movement of water; a splashing or dashing in small waves or ripples; where currents meet, the water is said to be jabblyLoom (Cumbria)Slow and silent movement of water in a deep poolPell (Sussex)Hole of water, generally very deep, beneath an abrupt waterfallSoma (Irish)A body of water that is abounding in swansStaran (Gaelic)Causeway of stones built out into a lake in order to fetch waterTrunnel (English regional)A road or path where, in summer, the leaves of trees on both sides form a canopyA Trunnel is an English word noting a road or path where, in summer, the leaves of trees on bo th sides form a canopy. Photo by Jason Ortego on Unsplash.Twevelet (Poetic)Small leaf bundles snagged around river twigs after a floodWinterbourne (Anglo-Saxon)Intermittent or ephemeral stream, dry in the summer and running in winterMoon, sun, and starsApricity (Phenological)Suns warmth in winterBenighted (Mountaineering)Overtaken by darkness while walking or climbingBright-borough (Poetic)Area of the night sky thickly strewn with stars (Gerard Manley Hopkins)Buried moon (Northamptonshire)Moon seen through a vaporous hazeBurr (East Anglia)Mistiness over and around the moon; a moon-haloDark hour (East Anglia)Interval between the time of sufficient light to work or read by and the lighting of candles- therefore, a time of social domestic conversation (We will talk that over at the dark hour)Dimpsy, dimsy (Devon, Somerset)Dusk, or the darkened hour brought on by poor weather, or the short period of time between daylight and dusklight. The cusp of duskness (Isabel Macho)Doomfire (Poetic )Sunset light which has the appearance of the apocalypse (Gerard Manley Hopkins)Firesmoke (Childish)Blending of sunrise or sunset with cloudsGreen flash (Optics)Optical phenomenon occurring just before sunset or just after sunrise, in which a green spot is briefly visible above the upper rim of the suns diskGrimlins (Orkney)Night hours around midsummer when dusk blends into dawn and it is hard to say if day is ending or beginningHoarlight (Poetic)Burnished or embossed forehead of sky over the sundown, beautifully clear (Gerard Manley Hopkins)Print-moonlight (Sussex)Moonlight bright enough to read byShepherds lamp (Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire)First star that rises after sunsetShivelight (Poetic)A word created by poet Gerard Manley Hopkins for the lances of sunshine that pierce the canopy of a woodFlora, fauna and landscapeBerhog (Shetland)Sterile piece of groundDeadfall (Geography)Dead branch that falls from a tree as a result of wind or its own weightDreeping (Irish/poetic)Desc ribing landscape that is heavy with dew or rain (Patrick Kavanagh)Ecotone (Ecological)Transition zone between two biomes, where communities meet and integrate (for example, between field and forest or lake and land)Frail (Banffshire)The skeleton of a leafHopliness (Childish)Changes in color along the length of a stem of grassHoodoo(Geography) Tall, thin spire of rockMute (Exmoor)Stumps of trees and bushes left in the ground after fellingPixy-hunting (Somerset)Climbing trees in an orchard to get the last fruit after the main crop has been harvestedPlatos fire (Poetic)Shadows dancing inside of a tree hollow on a sunny day in the woodsSillion (Poetic)Shining, curved face of earth recently turned by the plowSmeuse (English)The gap in the base of a hedge made by the regular passage of a small animalSmoog (Childish)Referring to a group of children who gather, crack, stack and whack bits of fallen timber in the woodsSnicket (Yorkshire)A narrow path between buildings or between a fence and a fieldSolastalgia (Global)Distress caused by environmental change (climate change, pollution mining) that alters a persons home landscape without them ever leaving itSpurring (Exmoor)Following the tracks of a wild animalSway (Venery)Deviation of an animals footprints from the median line of passageVallum (Northumberland)A wide ditchWilsom (Scots)A way or path leading through wild and desolate regions