Learn English – Is it true that the English have many words for hill

british-english

I've heard it said that Eskimos have many words for snow and that the English have many words for hill. If so what are they?

Best Answer

An excerpt from Key Concepts in Language and Linguistics by R.L. Trask:

Those Eskimo words for 'snow'. By a comical series of events, the legend has grown up that the Eskimo languages have vast numbers of words for different kinds of snow. In fact, the several dialects of the two Eskimo languages variously exhibit between two and four distinct words for snow. This is about the same as English with its snow, slush, sleet, blizzard (not to mention skiers' terms like hardpack, powder and crust).

After a quick search, I hit the following words related snow in Alaskan/Eskimo/Inuit languages:

Akkituyok: soft snow
Aput: snow used for a specific purpose
Aquutaq: snow
Mangokpok: watery snow
Massak: soft snow
Massalerauvok: snow filled with water
Mauja: soft deep snow
Pukak: snow crust
Qaniit: falling snow
Qannik: snowflake
Sesi: snow
Tipvigut: snowdrift

Regarding the English words for hill, the following are its synonyms:

brae (Scot.)
down (archaic)
elevation
eminence
fell
height
hillock
hummock
knoll
mound
mount
prominence
tor

Also see this page for a list of "hill" synonyms and "hill" related words.

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