Oh, it was but the gentlest sprinkle, a mere whisper of winter—a “greymin,” they used to call it—scarcely enough to cover the tops of these two boundary stones on Newton Moor.1A GREYMIN is a light fall of snow, just enough to cover the ground or the roofs of buildings. (‘Twas frost and thro leet wid a o’ greymin snaw – 1898 English dialect dictionary Vol II Page 728).
The snow flurry arrived just as I was striding along the edge of the moor. There is nothing quite so invigorating as being caught in a swirl of snow.
These stones, age-old markers defining the bounds, divide Newton Moor between Newton and Great Ayton. One bears the engraving “TKS 1815,” almost certainly a nod to Thomas Kitchingman Staveley, who once held sway as lord of the manor of Newton.
People love to say the Inuit have 50 words for snow, but the Scots laugh at such modesty—they have amassed a splendid lexicon of over 400.2Flood, Alison. 2015. ‘Whiteout: New Scottish Thesaurus Has 421 Words for Snow’, The Guardian (The Guardian) <https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/sep/23/scots-thesaurus-reveals-421-words-for-snow> [accessed 9 December 2022]
So, with utmost precision and the full weight of linguistic history behind me, I declare that what we have had here is no more and no less than a “skith” of snow.3“Skith” – a light fall or dusting of snow, such that the ground still shows through beneath the snow; most characteristic of early or late winter.
- 1A GREYMIN is a light fall of snow, just enough to cover the ground or the roofs of buildings. (‘Twas frost and thro leet wid a o’ greymin snaw – 1898 English dialect dictionary Vol II Page 728).
- 2Flood, Alison. 2015. ‘Whiteout: New Scottish Thesaurus Has 421 Words for Snow’, The Guardian (The Guardian) <https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/sep/23/scots-thesaurus-reveals-421-words-for-snow> [accessed 9 December 2022]
- 3“Skith” – a light fall or dusting of snow, such that the ground still shows through beneath the snow; most characteristic of early or late winter.
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