Out & About …

… on the North York Moors, or wherever I happen to be.

Roseberry Common

Roseberry Common

More snow overnight. To use Scottish terms: a ‘fyoonach‘ or a light fall, just enough to cover the ground. By the afternoon, a ‘murg‘ or a heavy fall, ‘skelves‘,  large flakes of snow. And in the evening, with a temperature rise, rain.

Changing weather then. Appropriate for January perhaps.

January, named after Janus, the Roman god of transitions, and of beginnings and doorways. He was the doorkeeper to heaven, hence we get the word ‘janitor’, and was traditionally depicted as two-faced, one looking to the past, the other to the future.

Janus also gives us a group of words known as Janus words or auto-antonyms. Words which have two meanings which are opposite. For example:

Left – as in ‘he went away’ or ‘remaining’;
Fast – meaning ‘quick’ or ‘fixed’;
Dust – as in ‘to dust the cobwebs’ or ‘to sprinkle with flour’.

There are many more.


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