Our final Gaelic contribution from Roddy Maclean for 2017 takes a look at some Gaelic words and phrases for snow.

Tha i air a bhith sneachdach o chionn ghoirid – mar sin, seo agaibh grunn fhaclan is abairtean Gàidhlig airson tuairisgeul a dhèanamh air aimsir shneachdach / It’s been a snowy month – so here are some unique ‘snowy’ Gaelic words to help you enjoy a Scottish winter.

Grunn Fhaclan co-cheangailte ri ‘Sneachd’

Ged nach urrainn coimeas a dhèanamh eadar a’ Ghàidhlig agus cànan nan Inuit nuair a thig e gu faclan airson ‘sneachd’, tha grunn fhaclan is abairtean Gàidhlig air a shon dha nach eil coimeas dìreach ann am Beurla. ’S e spiandagan facal air leth snog; tha e a’ ciallachadh ‘grunn bhleideagan-sneachda ag udal sa ghaoith’. Canaidh sinn cuideachd ‘tha e a’ spianadh an t-sneachda’ nuair a tha i a’ cur sneachda gu h-aotrom ’s gu gann’.

Corra uair gheibh sinn clàdain (sing. clàdan) ‘bleideagan-sneachda air leth mòr – cho mòr ri sgillinn’. Mura h-eil iad tiugh gu leòr airson an talamh a chòmhdachadh, gheibh sinn breac-shneachd. Gu tric, cha mhair i cianail fuar fada ann an Alba, agus bidh sgarrach no slinnteach againn, nuair a bhios i a’ sileadh uisge agus a’ cur sneachda aig an aon àm. An dèidh aiteamh, bidh cathaidhean a’ leaghadh agus gheibh sinn sneachd bog ris an canar gnudhadh no, nas salaiche na sin, eabar sneachdach air a bheil leòig. Tha grunn fhaclan airson flin, leithid flinne, glìfeid, clàmhainn, flichneachd, stiug, glid agus glìb. Ma tha an cabhsair no rathad glìb-shleamhainn, thoiribh an aire.

Agus thoiribh an aire sna beanntan air maoimean-sneachda – cunnart a bha aithnichte o chionn fhada do na Gàidheil, gu h-àraidh ann am meadhan na Gàidhealtachd. Ghabh luchd na Beurla am facal-iasaid Frangach avalanche airson na leithid.

Some Gaelic Words for ‘Snow’

While Gaelic cannot compete with the Inuit language for its large vocabulary relating to different types of snow, nevertheless it boasts some words and phrases which have no direct equivalent in English – and which might prove useful at this time of year! One of the nicest words is generally applicable only in very cold weather, when spiandagan ‘a few snowflakes floating in the wind’ are to be seen. If snow is falling very lightly and sparsely we say ‘tha e a’ spianadh an t-sneachda’.

Occasionally we get clàdain ‘large snowflakes, big enough to cover a penny’. If they are not thick enough to fully cover the ground, we might end up with breac-shneachd ‘dappled snow’. Of course, temperatures don’t remain depressed in Scotland for long, so we sometimes get sgarrach or slinnteach which refer to mixtures of snow and rain, and a thaw will deliver gnudhadh ‘the slush from drifting snow’ and leòig ‘snow which melts into muck on the road’. There are several words for sleet eg flin, flinne, glìfeid, clàmhainn, flichneachd, stiug, glid and glìb. If the weather is glìbeil, it is ‘sleety and showery with hail now and then’ – and beware of a pavement that is glìb-shleamhainn ‘slippery with sleet’.

Those who venture into the mountains must be careful to avoid a deadly maoim-sneachda – when a mass of snow falls rapidly and powerfully down a hillside, a phenomenon far from unknown in olden times, particularly in the Central Highlands, and for which the English language borrowed a French term – avalanche.