Why do the Komi people have more than 50 names for SNOW!?

The Komi people live in the Far North of Russia and many of their members were historically nomadic reindeer herders and hunters. For them, it was vitally important to describe the condition of the snow outside with a single word.

The main word is ‘лым’ (‘lym’), which translates as ‘snow’.

‘Пуж’ (‘puzh’) can be translated as ‘hoarfrost’. But, if it's thick hoarfrost, rime on trees, then it's ‘кукта’ (‘kukta’; in some dialects ‘тукта’ – ‘tukta’).

When snow falls in a dense layer and turns into a firm crust, it’s called ‘юж’ ‘(yuzh’).

‘Кижа’ (‘kizha’) is the fine, dry snow that falls in freezing temperatures. And if such snow falls in very thin air, it's called ‘пакта’ (‘pakta’).

‘Кидь’ (‘kid’) is loose snow, while ‘соз’ (‘soz’) is grainy snow.

But, this is just the tip of the iceberg! There are also words for various kinds of slush, for squeaky and sticky snow, for light, freshly fallen snow and many others…