Reading an obscure paper from the 1880s a word stopped me - apricity. It seemed like I had come across it before and there were hints from the context, but it was time for the OED.1 I pulled out the first volume of my old compact edition - the one with the magnifying glass - and found it. An obscure word dating to 1623 meaning the warmth of the Sun in the Winter.
The warmth of a bright Sun on a clear cold Winter day. That's something that captures most of us know - the radiant heat of the Sun isn't perturbed by the cold air and can be quite comfortable. Then it hit me I heard the word in a John McPhee lecture in Princeton.2 A few decades had passed since he wrote Coming into the Country, but it was about three Alaskas including a look at the Winter. A perfect word for some of the days.
A day of apricity can make snow melt in subzero air temperatures on Southern-facing roofs only to freeze into beautifully clear long icicles at the edge. This type of ice formation is often free of bubbles producing beautifully clear ice. If you have wide enough icicles you might try making an ice lens and starting a fire.
Such days are made for outdoor recreation if there isn't any wind. Perhaps more importantly the basic principle - heat transfer by radiation - can keep heating expenses down. Heating and moving air to fill rooms is enormously inefficient. If you aren't moving around much you might try a small radiant heater and point it at the area where you are. Heat what you need to heat with infrared light. Direct sunlight is the same... sit in the Sun. These measures, plus wearing warm indoor clothing and being somewhat active lets you get away with low thermostat settings. And be on the lookout for apricity as that can give a big psychological boost!
Another Winter word I like is tingilinde. It's a constructed word based on J.R.R. Tolkien's elfin language Quenya meaning the sparkle of the starlight reflecting on the snow on a dark moonless Winter night. Such sights could be spectacular in Montana away from town when it was really cold and a bit of new snow had fallen as tiny ice crystals. Another great spot is Yellowstone .. super cold air forms the right kind of ice crystal snow near the hot springs and geysers. Once it was magical - the cold starlight reflecting from millions of tiny diamonds along with the greens and reds of a bright aurora dancing overhead. On such nights you don't notice that it's really cold.
__________
1 The Compact Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary is the 1928 edition. Devilishly small print that requires a magnifying glass, but the real OED and only about $80 (still a lot back then!) rather than the fortune the full dictionary went for. There's a lovely bit of historical fiction on the dictionary and the people who made it happen: The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams. It's set in the time and place with many of the characters, but focuses on what was left out.. those who weren't white, male and of a certain class. Recommended!
2 McPhee is a great writer - a master of the creative non-fiction genre.
Comments