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Abstract smell words

Posted by Robin on 22 January 2018 7 Comments

"The Semaq Beri, like the Jahai, use abstract color words, but they also have abstract smell words they use for different qualities of smells," [Linguist Asifa Majid] says. For instance, the Jahai word Cηεs describes the seemingly dissimilar smell of petrol, smoke, bat poop, root of wild ginger and wood of wild mango. To the Jahai, all these scents have this quality of Cηεs.

— Another take on that hunter-gatherer study I mentioned the other day. Read more at That Smells Like ... Um, I Can't Think Of A Word For It! at NPR.

Filed Under: perfume in the news
Tagged With: olfaction

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7 Comments

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  1. Kanuka says:
    22 January 2018 at 12:06 pm

    Thanks for that. I’ve been reading a couple of the papers from the linguists mentioned but my brain has trouble processing the complicated jargon

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    • Robin says:
      22 January 2018 at 12:27 pm

      You’ve probably explored this more than I have then!

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      • Robin says:
        22 January 2018 at 12:29 pm

        But will also point out that as a perfumista, an abstract word that encompassed all those smells — that wouldn’t help our problem, would it? It’s not specific enough.

        But again, have not looked into this study as carefully as I should.

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        • Kanuka says:
          22 January 2018 at 12:50 pm

          That’s what I think. A word that encompasses petrol, smoke and mango, for example, would probably be less helpful than a description like ‘ petrol and mango notes with a hint of wood-smoke from damp wood’. Source- based descriptions like ‘ smells like mango’ are pretty helpful.

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          • Robin says:
            22 January 2018 at 3:32 pm

            Right. What is useful as a hunter gatherer might not be useful elsewhere.

            The truth is that I think most perfumistas describe perfume using a sort of shorthand that’s pretty clear to me.

          • rayleighblue says:
            22 January 2018 at 7:50 pm

            Oh, but what about something like “sharp” to describe those smells? Green mango can be a pretty sharp note, and saying that the overall impression of a fragrance is sharp rather than, idk mellow, is useful in when choosing something.

          • Robin says:
            23 January 2018 at 9:52 am

            Good point.

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