Khamsin

Around the world there are many fascinating names for wind. The Khamsin (also called khamseen, khamaseen, chamsin or hamsin) is a hot, dry and dusty one that blows from the south over Egypt, the Red Sea and eastern parts of the Mediterranean. The word means fifty, and the wind commonly blows sporadically over 50 days. It’s most prevalent during March and April and carries sand from the desert, causes great rises in temperature, and can reach speeds of 140 kilometres per hour. The Khamsin caused problems for Napoleon during his Egyptian campaign, and also for German troops in North Africa during World War II.

Lerner and Loewe wrote a song called “They Call the Wind Maria” (Mariah) for their hit Broadway musical Paint Your Wagon (1951). Before that George Rippey Stewart wrote a novel (published in 1941) called Storm in which a gigantic storm sweeps across the Pacific Ocean, wreaking havoc on San Francisco and the California coast.  The storm was called Maria (Ma-rye-ah). I found one source that said this led to the practise of naming hurricanes after women, but other sources say that hurricanes in the West Indies were often called after the saint’s day on which they occurred, and apparently there was an Australian meteorologist in the 19^th century who gave women’s names to tropical storms. Note: supposedly Mariah Carey was named after the storm in the song above.

One can go not quite from A to Z with the names of winds, but there are names that start with B – Bise is a northerly one that blows in the southeastern mountains of France and western mountains of Switzerland in winter. And the Zonda is the name of two different winds in South America – a dry and dusty wind over the eastern slopes of the Andes in Argentina in winter, and a hot humid northerly wind that blows over the Pampas.
In western Canada we love the Chinook, a warm wind that eats snow. Check out http://www.islandnet.com/~see/weather/journal/canwxwords.htm for other Canadian wind names (and weather words) – the Alberta Clipper, Bonspiel Thaw, Ground Drifter, the Cow Storm (a strong gale on Ellesmere Island that can blow the horns off a musk ox), Wreckhouse Winds, and the Keewatin.

Does naming winds go back to naming gods and goddesses? Winds after all can be very powerful and are important to us, not only in their potential destructive power, but also in the beneficial weather they bring (e.g. rain). In the past they had value for their ability to take us (sailing ships and boats) where we needed and wanted to go.

Songs about wind include “Blowing in the Wind,” “Four Strong Winds,” “The Wayward Wind,” “Wind Beneath My Wings,” “Like a Hurricane,” and “Carey (The Wind is in from Africa).”

Jink

I noticed this word for the first time (I may have seen it before, but it didn’t register) in a series of space opera novels by Elizabeth Moon. The word means ‘to move suddenly or run away with quick turns and changes of direction’. Since the novels are partially about a space fleet and their movements in space and during battles, the use of the word makes sense.

I love these books because they have strong female characters, both young and old (there are some great elderly aunts) and the author dedicates the book to her mother and mother-in-law. ‘Two women who proved with their lives and in their children, that single parents can be good parents and that “values are more than campaign slogans.” The stories are full of action. The title of the first book is Hunting Party and it takes place partially on an island on a planet owned by one of the rich families. A group of idle rich young people falls afoul of a naval (space) officer who has, by his actions in a skirmish, ended the career of a female officer under him (one of the heroines of this book and an important character throughout). To quote from the back of the book, ‘Herris Serrano was an officer born of a long line of officers. Being forced by a treacherous superior to resign her commission under a cloud was not just the end of a career path; it was the end of everything that gave her life meaning.’ What very few people know is that the naval officer is a really nasty piece of work; he is on this island illegally and the young people become involved in defeating him and his men, while developing their own characters.

There are horses (hunting and eventing) involved in the above book as well as several others – more things for the idle rich to do. And of course, horses can certainly jink. I enjoyed all of it and reread these books more than once. Besides space battles there is plenty of intrigue, including within families and within nations. There are nasty enemies from other planets, and unscrupulous workers as well as stupid and smart young people. What more can you ask for in space opera?

Another meaning for ‘jink’ in Scottish is ‘to play tricks and frolic’. I certainly can frolic among these books, entertained by the different cultures described – military culture, as well as various family and planetary cultures.
I recently had my grandson visiting and he can certainly jink. Childhood is a time for jinking – while playing tag, while biking with your friends, while ducking the water sprayer in the garden.

Summer is also a good time to escape by reading light hearted books that entertain and enthrall.