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Language & WorldFact

No, Inuit don't have 100 words for snow.

In 1911 Franz Boas listed four Inuit root words for snow, much like English with snow, sleet, slush and powder. A 1940 essay by Benjamin Whorf popularised the idea; later writers inflated the count to 50 and 100. What's true: Inuit languages build very long words from a few roots; how many snow words exist depends on what you count as a word.

Useful: Next time someone sells you the 100 snow words, you know where the number came from.

Source: en.wikipedia.org

InuitLinguistikMythen

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Question on this card

Where does the figure of 100 Inuit words for snow come from?

  1. From Franz Boas's 1911 count
  2. From later retellings that kept inflating the number
  3. From an official Inuit dictionary
  4. From the Guinness Book of Records
Show the answer

Correct: From later retellings that kept inflating the number

Boas listed four roots; via Whorf (1940) and later writers the number grew to 50, then 100.

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