Why only few words for smell in most
languages?
The reasons could be many, for that matter even for taste
basically is classified only into 6 categories.
When it is a topic with a mixture of linguistics and biology
two scholars automatically come across my mind one Steven Pinker and Guy
Murchie.
The problem gets further complicated because over ‘5
million nasal sensory cells are capable of detecting a few thousand smells
distinctly’ as we infer from The blind Traveller of James Holman and as Tristan
Gooley writes in The Natural Explorer; Understanding Your Landscape, “ smell
becomes a complex tapestry , squares of familiarity mixed with surprise, nostalgia
and intrigue”. Very well said and smell carries with it more of mental
associations with a predominance over other sensations. That’s why in the competition
of the two organs nose and mouth, very often even food is recognized more with the
smell than the taste, or at least the aroma precedes that of taste.
Smell seems to precede announcing either the expectation
or arrival of something. Sometimes even when we read the word coffee we start
smelling coffee, that’s why perhaps the expression ‘smell trouble’
Guy Murchie to my knowledge was the first question the
very classification of senses into a very limited number and went on to write about
Eleven [11] Senses of Radiation and Feeling,
Twenty-one [21] Senses of Chemistry, Mind and Spirit etc.
So I feel it is only appropriate that I glean into his works
as to why the number of words for smell has been limited. The italics and underlining gives out at
least a partial explanation as to why we cannot and do not have many words for
smell.
Guy Murchie in his excellent book The Seven Mysteries Of
life writes,
“The
primary smells, it turned out, are seven in number: camphoric, musky, floral,
minty, ethereal, pungent and putrid, each of them produced by various
molecules approximating a distinctive shape or having a definite electric
charge, and each smellable only when it is received in the right one of seven
different kinds of complementary cavities distributed among seven corresponding
areas in the molecular walls of the olfactory nerve cells. If these are
olfactory lies, it is because smell too is a kind of language.”
Guy Murchie writes further about smell:
“Linus Pauling announced the discovery in 1946 that
"a molecule the same shape as a camphor molecule will smell like camphor even
though it may be quite unrelated to camphor chemically."
And three years later R. W. Moncrieff reformulated the
whole lock-and key concept in modern terms, followed by John Amoore, who called
it the steric theory and, with the help of colleagues, pretty well established
it by demonstrating that odors, like colors, can be sorted into a few primary
ones of which all others are mixtures.”
“Even
though odors can be wafted great distances on the wind and the keenest scented
animals have proven they can detect a test aroma diluted to 10 ̄13 or only one
molecule in ten trillion of average air, it still is hard to believe the
confirmed reports that bloodhounds and other trained dogs have found a lost
wallet, a gun or a vial of heroin under tons of manure, or concealed in a
chemical factory reeking with fumes of sulfur or ammonia.”
“The
explanation seems to be that no smell can completely cancel or camouflage another
smell because the molecules both smells consist of are irretrievably diffused
throughout the air they are in, and any two or more simultaneous odors, no
matter how mixed, are smelled alternately in the olfactory cells and nerves,
even though the alternations may be only milliseconds apart.”
“Furthermore
a dog who has sniffed, say, a man's cap can later recognize any other part of
him and easily follow his trail because there are recognizable olfactory
relationships between body parts as well as between species, races, sexes,
ages, diets, diseases, neighborhoods, occupations or almost any other
classifications of life”.
“If
you want to avoid being tracked by a dog, then the first thing to do is wear
brand-new shoes or cover your old ones with untouched plastic bags, so that the
fewest possible molecules from your feet are left on the ground. But, in an
actual case, even if no telltale molecules from your body get left behind
(something manifestly impossible) an experienced dog may be able to follow you
by smelling
the
freshly crushed grass or disturbed soil where you stepped, for this is the
dog's specialty: he carries his nose close to the ground and the smelling part
of his brain is not only disproportionately large but specialized to detect
tiny traces of substances such as aliphatic acids in sweat that seep through
shoes and diffuse steadily outward in air. In fact smell to him is a little like
sound to a bat, giving him a degree of what we seeing-creatures call
visualization.”
“The rattler, for one, has at least four
"words" in his smell vocabulary. Besides his ambush scent of
cucumber, he switches to a terrifying effluvium when in combat, exudes a
socially somnific savor at hibernation time and wafts a love perfume when
looking for a mate.”
Besides all these the best way to convey smell is to
something that smells like that
Here I am reproducing words connected with smell,
especially adjective from my
Reverse Dictionary of
Adjectives
ABBREVIATIONS USED:
1) UTI – Used to indicate:
This I have arrived at after working for days together to find out a single suitable simple expression to explain or define adjectives and doing away with several introductory words/phrases used by dictionaries in defining adjectives, a comprehensive list of 37 such words and phrases like ‘able to ,apt to, capable of, pertaining to,’ etc are well compiled and mentioned by SIDNEY I LANDOU in the book ‘Dictionaries: The art and craft of lexicography.’
2) N-for indicating all negations be it a noun bearing prefixes –non, -in, etc or suffix –less, or for referring to contrary of an action or condition.
3) V-for indicating all intensities to avoid use of all the following terms such as :very, too, excessive, enormous etc either before and/ or after the noun or verb.
4) F-for indicating any fear or phobia.
5) S-for indicating any science, study, technique, art etc.
6) L-for indicating all likeness and avoid use of words like similar, shaped, like , form etc.
The four columns below indicate
Reverse Dictionary of
Adjectives
Keyword Connective ADJECTIVE Meaning
word
|
SMELL
|
SMELLABLE
|
PERCEIVING ODOUR
THROUGH THE NOSE
|
|
|
SMELL
|
BAD
|
FETID
|
UTI ABAD SMELL
|
|
SMELL
|
GOOD
|
FRAGRANT
|
UTI PLEASANT SMELL
|
|
SMELL ESP BAD SMELL
EMANATING FROM OUTH
|
HALITOTIC
|
BAD SMELL FROM MOUTH
|
|
|
SMELL BAD
|
REEKY
|
UTI BAD SMELL
|
|
|
SMELL BAD
|
RANCID
|
UTI BAD SMELL/TASTE
|
|
|
SMELL ESP BAD ONE
|
SMELLY
|
STH EMITTING BAD SMELL
|
|
|
SMELL ESP BOD BODY
SMELL(F)
|
BROMIDROSIPHOBIC
|
FEAR OF BAD BODY SMELL
|
|
|
SMELL ESP GOOD SMELL
PRODUCING
|
ODORIFEROUS/ODOROUS
|
STH THAT PRODUCES GOOD
SMELL
|
|
|
SMELL ESP
NOXIOUS/POISONOUS
|
MEPHITIC
|
STH NOXIOUS/POISONOUS
TO SMELL
|
|
|
SMELL ESP SENSE OF
SMELL
|
OLFACTORY
|
SENSE OF SMELL
|
|
|
SMELL ESP SENSE OF
SMELL(S)
|
OLFACTOLOGICAL
|
SCIENCE OF SENSE OF
SMELL
|
|
|
SMELL ESP SENSE OF
SMELL(V)
|
HYPEROSMIC
|
ABNORMAL SHARPNESS OF
SENSE OF SMELL
|
|
|
SMELL ESP SWEET
SMELLING
|
AROMATIC
|
STH SWEET SMELLING
|
|
|
SMELL GOOD
|
REDOLENT
|
UTI PLEASANT SMELL
|
|
|
SMELL OF GARLIC/ONION
|
ALLIACEOUS
|
SMELL OF GARLIC/ONION
|
|
|
SMELL OF MUSK
|
MOSCHATE/MOSCHINE
|
STH HAVING MUSK LIKE
ODOUR
|
|
|
SMELL OF OLD
FOOD/CLOSED ROOM ETC
|
MUSTY
|
ODOUR OF LONG CLOSED
ROOM/OLD FOOD
|
|
|
SMELL OFAN ANIMAL
|
CAPRYLIC
|
ODOUR OF AN ANIMAL
|
|
|
SMELL SENSATION(N)
|
ANOSMIC
|
ABSENCE OF SENSE OF
SMELL
|
|
|
SMELL THAT IS
|
PLEASANT
|
PERFUMY
|
STH THAT HAS PLEASANT
SMELL
|
|
SMELL THAT IS
|
PLEASANT
|
PERFUMY
|
STH THAT HAS PLEASANT
SMELL
|
|
SMELL THAT IS BAD/FOUL
|
STINKING/STINKY
|
STHFOUL-SMELLING
|
|
|
SMELL(N)
|
ANOSMATIC
|
LOSS OF SENSE OF SMELL
|
|
|
SMELL(N)
|
INODOROUS
|
SMELL(N)
|
|
|
SMELL(N)
|
ODORLESS
|
ABSENCE OF GOOD SMELL
|
|
|
SMELL(N)ESP PLEASANT
ONE
|
SCENTLESS
|
STH WITHOUT A PLEASANT
SMELL
|
|
|
SMELL(V)
|
OXYRHINE/RHYNOUS
|
SHARP NOSE/SHARP
SCENTEDNESS
|
|
|
SMELL,ESP SENSE OF
SMELL
|
OSPHRETIC
|
SENSE OF SMELL
|
|
|
SMELL,STH THAT CAUSES
|
TUMEFACIENT
|
CAUSING SMELL
|
|
|
SMELL/ODOR PERCEPTION
|
OSMATIC
|
PERCEIVING
SMELLS/ODORS
|
|
|
SMELLING
|
REDOLENT
|
SMELLING/SMACKING OF
|
|
|
SMELLING ESP GOOD
|
DEODRANT
|
STH GOOD SMELLING
|
|
|
SMELLING SENSATION
DISORDERS(S)
|
OSMONOSOLOGICAL
|
STUDY OF DISORDEWRS OF
SENSE OF SMELL
|
|
|
SMELLING SENSE THAT IS
SHARP/ACUTE
|
OXYOSPHRESIC
|
SHARP SENSE OF SMELL
|
|
|
SMELLS ESP STRANGE
ONES AND
|
DESIRE FOR THEM
|
PAROSMIC
|
DESIRE FOR STRANGE
SMELLS
|
|
SMELLS(F)
|
OSMOPHOBIC
|
FEAR OF SMELLS
|
|
|
SMELLS(S)
|
OSMOLOGIC
|
STUDY OF SMELLS
|
|
|
SMELLS,ESP GREAT LOVE
OF/FONDNESS FOR THEM
|
OSPHRESIOPHIBIC
|
GREAT FONDNESS/LOVE
FOR SMELLS/ORORS
|
|
|
SMELLS/ODORS HATRED
|
OSPHRESIOPHOBIC
|
HATRED OF SMELLS/ODORS
|
All these can be found in this link
Or this
On a lighter vein if one were to coin a word for every
smell perceptible to humans, and worse still all the distinct smells that are
said to be perceptible to dogs, then, the dictionary of smell may even exceed
in number of volumes than Oxford English Dictionary.
While writing about smell I cannot resist remembering Lawrence
Durrell who connects and remembers most things with the smell.
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