The talus of sandstone boulders at the foot of Roseberry Topping resulting from the landslip that occured in 1912

A scene of rocky confusion.

‘Talus’ is a strange word. It’s a word I actually find uncomfortable to use, long past its sell-by date. In this context it means the slope of rock debris but an alternative meaning is an anklebone. Each derives from different Latin words. Until 1830 talus was more often referred to as the slope of a military earthwork, but in that year it was first recorded as meaning a “sloping mass of rocky fragments that has fallen from a cliff“¹‘Etymonline’. 2014. Etymonline.com <https://www.etymonline.com/word/talus?utm_source=extension_searchhint> [accessed 5 December 2022].

I much prefer though two West Country words ‘clitter’ and ‘clatter’: clitter in Devon, and clatter in Cornwall²Tyler, Dominic. ‘Uncommon Ground’. Page 17. Guardian Books. 2015.. Better still compound the two: ‘clitter-clatter’.

So, to re-title: the clitter-clatter of sandstone boulders at the foot of Roseberry Topping resulting from the landslip that occured in 1912. That’s better.

• 1
  ‘Etymonline’. 2014. Etymonline.com <https://www.etymonline.com/word/talus?utm_source=extension_searchhint> [accessed 5 December 2022]
• 2
  Tyler, Dominic. ‘Uncommon Ground’. Page 17. Guardian Books. 2015.