Language, Landscape and Living

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🌍 When Words Shape Water:

Language, Landscape & Living

✨ A teaser question to start with:

If the Inuit have 100 words for snow and the Scottish have 100 words for peat

— how many words for water are we losing every time we translate “haor,” “polder,” or “phù sa” into just “water” or “land”?

Every culture has a water story.

In Bangladesh, words like haor and beel describe wetlands that define livelihoods. In the Netherlands, terms like polder and kwelder tell centuries of struggle and invention against the sea. In Vietnam, phù sa means not just “silt” but the life-giving soil that feeds millions.

But in English, these all become “lake,” “marsh,” or “floodplain.” The richness is lost — and with it, the knowledge of how communities live with water, soil, and change.

“When Words Disappear, So Do Ways of Knowing”

In Rathad an Isein / The Bird’s Road, a glossary of Lewis moorland words and peat-cutting terminology, we find something deeply resonant:

“As languages decline in usage, we also lose the understanding of the world around us. In many cases, we lose the minute details of landscape, words in the dialect of a tiny area, words for very small localities and features, and words for specific items that are used much less – their stories and pasts begin to disappear.” Books from Scotland

That sentence captures exactly what we mean when we say: language is ecology too. The same erosion is happening in Bangladesh, the Netherlands, Vietnam, and everywhere. Terms like char, haor, beel, polder, kwelder, phù sa are not just poetic; they are maps of ecological memory — a precise means to see, live with, adapt to land, water, soil, and climate.

Why This Matters

If we want locally led climate adaptation, we need a language that captures local knowledge. Standardized English simplifies — but it also erases. Each overlooked word is a lost insight into how people adapt, survive, and thrive in landscapes of water.

We are building a project that connects:

Maps of place names that carry water–landscape histories.
Lexicons of local terms from Bangladesh, the Netherlands, Vietnam, and beyond.
Concept notes and living stories that show why words matter for adaptation.

Just as Rathad an Isein records peat levels, stack types, and names for micro-features of moor and peat, our map of city and village names shows that many places carry in their names the story of water, flood, soil, elevation.
Our concept note argues that, in adaptation work, when we translate all those local names into generic English terms like “wetland,” “floodplain,” or “lowland,” much of that nuanced environmental intelligence gets lost.
What Rathad an Isein does for one region in Scotland — preserving local names, meanings, and landscape detail — is the kind of approach we need in flood-prone delta regions and engineered waterlands.

What We Offer

🌐 An interactive map showing how city and village names are rooted in water and land.
📖 A lexicon project that compares how different cultures describe rivers, wetlands, soils, and farms.
💡 A concept for adaptation: to safeguard indigenous knowledge, we must first safeguard its language.

Why Support This?

Because without the right words, there can be no right actions.
Locally Led Adaptation begins with listening — and listening begins with being able to understand language and culture.

👉 We are looking for partners, supporters, and co-creators who want to explore this journey with us.
Together, we can ensure that adaptation strategies respect and preserve the deep knowledge embedded in words.

Landmarks

In his book Landmarks, Robert Macfarlane reminds us: “To have the words to describe the natural world is to become more attentive, and, we can only hope, more capable of caring.” Just as the Lewis Moorland peat-glossary documented over 120 local terms for small features of bog and stream, our work in Bangladesh, the Netherlands, and Vietnam shows that words like haor, polder, phù sa, terp, beel are not poetic extras — they are working maps of adaptation, knowledge, and resilience. When we translate all of these into English as “floodplain,” “wetland,” or “lowland,” we lose not only the word, but the decision-making, ritual, memory, and seasonal cues embedded in them.

🇧🇩 Expanded Bangla Landscape–Water–Soil Vocabulary with Folk & Cultural Anchors

Disaster dictionary by Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief, Bangladesh

Waterbodies & Flow

নদী (Nodī) – River. In Bangla folk songs (bhatiyali), the river is a metaphor for life’s journey, separation, and union:
“নদীর বুকে নৌকা ভাসে, মাঝি বলে টান…” (“On the river’s chest floats a boat…”)
খাল (Khal) – Canal. Rural children swim, women wash, and farmers irrigate through the khal; many villages are named after their khal.
ঝরনা (Jhorna) – Waterfall or spring, often celebrated in Sylheti songs about hilly landscapes.
ডোবা (Doba) – Rainwater depression. Common in proverbs: “ডোবায় মাছ, ঘরে খাস” (“Fish from the doba feeds the home”).

Standing Water & Wetlands

হাওর (Haor) – Large floodplain depression. In Sylheti ballads and baul songs, haors are described as endless water in monsoon, endless fields in winter. The phrase “হাওর-বাওর” evokes remoteness, abundance, and danger.
বিল (Beel) – Wetland. Folklore portrays beels as mysterious, full of fish and spirits. Beel names mark many places (e.g., Chalan Beel).
পুকুর (Pukur) – Pond. Symbol of domestic life: marriage songs often speak of the pukur ghat as the site of meetings.
ঝিল (Jhil) – Shallow waterbody. Common in poetry to evoke quietness and reflection.

Riverine & Delta Landforms

চর (Char) – River island. Folk stories depict chars as lands of opportunity and loss — fertile but dangerous, appearing and vanishing. Songs of the Padma river often mention “চরের মানুষ” (people of the chars) as resilient yet uprooted.
কান্ডা (Kanda) – Slightly elevated land. In rural speech: “কান্ডায় ঘর বাঁধো, নইলে ভেসে যাবে” (“Build your home on the kanda, or it will be washed away”).
তট (Tot) – Riverbank. In bhatiyali, the tot is where lovers part as the boat departs downstream.

Coastal & Estuarine Terms

মোহনা (Mohona) – Estuary. In poetry, symbol of meeting, mixing, and uncertainty — where sweet and salty water blend.
খাড়ি (Khari) – Tidal creek. In Sundarbans folk tales, kharis are passages of both tigers and honey gatherers.
সৈকত (Shoikot) – Beach. Modern folk songs celebrate কক্সবাজার সৈকত as a place of wonder.

Soils, Sediments & Agricultural Land

পলি (Poli) – Silt. Farmers bless the monsoon’s gift of poli: “পলিতে ধান, পলিতে জীবন” (“Silt gives rice, silt gives life”).
লোনা জমি (Lona Jomi) – Saline land. In coastal songs, lowna is tied to hardship and migration, as families lose crops to rising saltwater.
ধানক্ষেত (Dhan Khet) – Paddy field. Endless subject of folk songs: golden paddy fields as symbols of fertility and love (“সোনার ধানে ভরা মাঠ”).

🇳🇱 Expanded Dutch Landscape–Water–Soil Vocabulary

Waterbodies & Flow

Rivier – river, often meandering (e.g., Waal, IJssel).
Beek – small stream, usually in higher sandy areas.
Spreng – man-made spring brook (Veluwe), dug for watermills.
Gracht – canal within a town, often defensive or for transport.
Kanaal – large man-made canal for transport, drainage, or water supply.
Vaart – navigable canal, often dug for peat transport.

Standing Water & Wetlands

Plas – lake or pond, often from peat digging (plassen).
Meer – natural or former inland lake (Haarlemmermeer before reclamation).
Poel – small natural pond, often seasonal or marshy.
Veenplas – shallow lake formed in peatlands after digging peat.
Wiel – scour hole left after a dike breach (reminder of flood history).

Riverine & Delta Landforms

Polder – reclaimed land surrounded by dikes, drained artificially.
Terp – man-made dwelling mound to escape floods, common in Friesland/Groningen.
Kwelder – salt marsh land, periodically flooded by the sea, used for grazing.
Komgrond – basin clay soil in riverine area, heavy and flood-prone.
Oeverwal – natural levee along a river, higher and sandy, often used for settlements.
Uiterwaard – floodplain between river and dike, seasonally flooded.
Kreek – tidal creek or remnant of an old watercourse in polders.

Soils, Sediments & Agricultural Land

Veen – peat soil, important in Dutch history (fuel, subsidence issues).
Zavel – loam soil, mix of sand and clay, fertile and valued.
Klei – clay soil, especially zeeklei (sea clay) and rivierklei (river clay).
Droogmakerij – drained lake reclaimed for agriculture (Beemster, Schiphol).
Dijk – dike, essential Dutch landscape element protecting land and polders.
Sluis – sluice, water control structure regulating levels and flows.
Sloot – ditch for drainage, ubiquitous in Dutch farmland.

🇻🇳 Expanded Vietnamese Landscape–Water–Soil Vocabulary

Waterbodies & Flow

Sông – river.
Suối – stream, small watercourse in hills/mountains.
Rạch – tidal creek or small distributary, common in Mekong Delta.
Kênh – man-made canal, used for irrigation, drainage, and transport.
Mương – small irrigation ditch, narrower than kênh.
Ngòi – rivulet or brook, often used in northern regions.

Standing Water & Wetlands

Ao – pond, usually dug by households, used for aquaculture and water storage.
Hồ – lake, natural or man-made.
Đầm – lagoon or marsh, shallow water, often brackish.
Phá – coastal lagoon, larger and saline/brackish (e.g., Phá Tam Giang in Central Vietnam).
Bưng – swamp or wetland, often seasonally flooded (southern usage).

Riverine & Delta Landforms

Cồn – river islet/sandbar, often shifting, used for temporary farming.
Bãi bồi – newly deposited alluvial land, fertile and contested for agriculture.
Bãi sông – floodplain, cultivated in dry season, inundated in wet season.
Bờ bãi – riverbank land, often fragile and prone to erosion.
Lạch – tidal inlet or small river mouth.

Soils, Sediments & Agricultural Land

Phù sa – alluvial soil/silt, life-giving sediment from rivers.
Đất phèn – acid sulfate soil, common in Mekong Delta, challenging for farming.
Đất mặn – saline soil, linked to sea intrusion.
Ruộng – paddy field, tightly tied to irrigation, soil, and flooding.

🇳🇿 Expanded Aotearoa/New Zealand Landscape–Water–Soil Vocabulary with Folklore Anchors

Waterbodies & Flow

Awa – River. Central to Māori identity: “Ko au te awa, ko te awa ko au” (“I am the river and the river is me”). In legends, rivers are ancestors; the Whanganui River is legally recognized as a living being.
Wai – Water, source of life. In traditional karakia (chants), wai is invoked as a cleansing and protective force. Waiora (pure water) symbolizes health; wairua (spirit) carries the same root.
Waiariki – Hot spring. Stories tell of ancestors using these for healing and communal bathing; still places of gathering today.
Manga – Stream/creek. Place names beginning with Manga- link to ancestral journeys and resource sites.
Rere – Waterfall. Often sacred sites, used for ritual purification (tohi ceremonies).

Standing Water & Wetlands

Roto – Lake. Many lakes have guardian spirits (taniwha) said to protect or test people. Lake Taupō is described in traditions as the heart of the North Island.
Repo – Swamp/wetland. Valued mahinga kai (food-gathering grounds), especially for tuna (eel) and harakeke (flax) harvest. Songs celebrate repo as places of sustenance.
Ngāwhā – Warm springs. Associated with healing powers and sometimes feared for their steaming, mysterious qualities.
Puna – Spring. Often regarded as sacred sources of life. Proverb: “He puna wai, he puna ora” (“A spring of water, a spring of life”).

Coastal & Estuarine Features

Moana – Ocean. In haka and waiata, moana represents vastness, migration journeys, and the connection back to Polynesian voyaging ancestors.
Waha – River mouth. Meeting place of river and sea; seen as thresholds of change, often rich in kai (food).
Whanga – Bay/harbour. In legends, safe havens for ancestral canoes (waka), such as the arrival of the Arawa and Tainui waka.
Tai – Tide, sea. In proverbs: “E kore e ngaro, he takere waka nui” (“The hull of a great canoe will not be lost”), connecting tides to resilience of voyaging.
Matāitai – Customary fishing grounds, linked to tribal rights and obligations passed down orally.

Riverine & Landforms

Ngutuawa – River confluence. Seen as powerful meeting points; some were chosen as settlement sites for their richness.
Kāinga – Settlement. Often built just above flood levels, demonstrating practical indigenous adaptation. Songs lament abandoned kāinga after floods.
Paepae – Raised terrace/bank, linked to fortified pā (settlements).
Papatūānuku – Earth mother, central figure in Māori cosmology. All land is her body; soil and land use are genealogical, not just material.

Soils, Sediments & Agricultural Land

One – Soil, sand, earth. In chants, oneone (soil) is described as the skin of Papatūānuku. Onepu (sand) figures in place names and stories of shifting coasts.
Kiripaka – Stony soil, linked in proverbs to resilience and challenge: “Hard as kiripaka.”
Māra kai – Cultivated garden. Kūmara gardens tied to ancestral knowledge of soil, drainage, and lunar planting cycles; chants guided planting seasons.
Pārae – Open field or plain, often the stage for gatherings and battles. Songs recall pārae as meeting grounds.
Horowhenua – Landslides/unstable soils; also a tribal territory name, carrying both ecological and historical weight.

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