scriddan means A kind of landslide in which rain loosens the side of a mountain or hill and rocks slide down. It carries an Arena rating of 1422, earned across 7 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, scriddan ranks #320 of 13,220 for Scariest Words, #763 of 13,220 for Funniest Words, #995 of 13,220 for Most Ingenious Words, #1,172 of 13,220 for Most Satisfying to Say.
Why “scriddan” is a great word
A torrent of loose stones and earth dislodged by heavy rain from a hillside. Its name is likely borrowed from Scottish Gaelic sgrìodan ("landslide, torrent of debris"), which itself may be from or influenced by Old Norse skriða ("landslide, scree"). Unlike "scree"—which names the inert, shifting stones that gather at a slope's base—or "avalanche"—which conjures the cold, rushing descent of snow—a scriddan is the moment the mountain itself liquefies into a hot, grinding river. It is the sudden thunder from a sodden hillside, the ochre stain of mud blooming across a valley, and the relentless, churning crush of boulders being rounded into pebbles—the earth's most brutal and indifferent form of forgetfulness.
Etymology
A relation to Old Norse skriða (“landslide, scree”) or an unattested Old English cognate thereof, *scridan (plural of *scride), has been suggested, as has derivation from a Gaelic word sgriodan, itself perhaps from Norse. Compare scree.
noun
- A kind of landslide in which rain loosens the side of a mountain or hill and rocks slide down.“AUCHUIRN, in the Shire of Ross: and in the Parish of Kintail. This is now a Farm in Glenelchaig, but was once a populous Town, which, in 1745, was rendered uninhabitable by an awful Scriddan or Mountain Torrent, and has since been converted into a grazing District.”
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