wuther means the sound of a wuthering wind. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 87 out of 100.
wuther is pronounced /ˈwʌðə/.
Why “wuther” is a great word
The dull, roaring sound of a fiercely blowing wind, or the action of making that sound. It originates as a variant of the dialect and Scots word 'whither', itself from Middle English, with possible roots in Old Norse *hviðra* (related to moving quickly to and fro). First recorded in its current form before 1850. Unlike 'howl', which suggests a long, mournful cry, or 'zephyr', which implies a soft caress, 'wuther' denotes the full-bodied, tumultuous roar of a wind that is less a voice than a force. It is the deep-throated tumult through the gnarled hawthorns on the moor, the resonant shudder against stone walls, and the constant, heavy breath that seems to rise from the earth itself—the sound of a landscape emptying itself of all but its own elemental weather.
Etymology
A variant of whither.
noun
- the sound of a wuthering wind.“I felt sure now that I was in the pensionnat—sure by the beating rain on the easement; sure by the ‘wuther’ of wind amongst trees, denoting a garden outside; sure by the chill, the whiteness, the solitude, amidst which I lay.”
verb
- of a wind: to blow with a dull roaring, such as among trees