Eleven-year-old Ben from Rapid City, South Dakota, asks about sundog, a bright halo or spot near the sun caused when sunlight passes through high ice crystals. The origin of the name is unknown, although the term has been used in English at least since the 17th century and has a long association with sailors. One possible image is of a dog accompanying the sun, but that’s only a guess. Other names include mock sun, weather gall, and parhelion, from words meaning “beside the sun.” An 1890 slang dictionary called the sight a “phantasmic mirage,” and on Smith Island, Maryland, folklore linked it with easterly winds, cooler weather, and fewer crabs. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of ““Mock Sun,” “Weather Gall,” and “Parhelion” Are Other Names for a “Sundog””
Hello, you have A Way with Words.
Hi, this is Ben.
We’re calling you from Rapid City, just outside of the Black Hills in South Dakota.
Oh, nice.
Wow, okay.
I just wanted to talk with you guys about sun dogs.
Sun dogs?
It’s basically just a sun, the sun, right? And then it has a rainbow around it.
Oh, yeah, nice.
What got you to thinking about that?
Well, we were driving to Cincinnati on a trip. We saw one on a freeway. And we were just thinking about it, and then we called. And here we are.
So, yeah.
So you want to know where we get sundog and why we call that kind of glowing ring around the sun a sundog.
Yes, exactly.
Okay.
I’ve got good news and I’ve got bad news. The bad news is we don’t really know why it’s called the sundog.
Oh.
There’s no really good theories. It goes back way into naval history, though. It’s a term that’s been used by sailors for a very long time in English. And there are other names for it, too. Some people call it a mock sun or a weather gall, G-A-L-L, or here’s the fancy term for it, parheelion, which is Latin.
Ooh, parheelion.
Yeah, it means beside the sun. And so it only happens when the sun is a certain point in the sky and there are ice crystals at a certain altitude, so the sun can kind of bounce through them and then come to our eyes at certain, of course, very specific conditions.
There’s a slang dictionary from 1890 that called it a phantasmic mirage, which I think is a great way to describe a sundog. It goes back to at least the 17th century, so that’s hundreds of years. And in some parts of the United States, including Illinois and Maryland, folklore tradition has it that if you see a sundog, it can tell you a little bit about the weather that’s going to come.
So, for example, on Smith Island, Maryland, some people have believed that it will bring easterly winds, cool temperatures, and fewer crabs in the crab harvest.
Oh, wow.
Yeah, it’s pretty cool, right?
So it’s kind of like an omen?
Yeah, an omen.
Exactly right.
In that area?
Yeah, exactly.
The only thing that I can imagine that would explain why it’s called a dog is because it goes along with the sun, you know?
Oh, like a dog follows you by and catch your heel?
Yeah, a smaller…
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Maybe.
A smaller version, but nobody really knows, as Grant said.
Yeah, unfortunately, nobody really knows.
Ben, thank you for calling us. Keep up the curiosity and call us again sometime, okay?
Thank you.
Thank you.
All right, bye-bye.
Take care.
Yeah, I was thinking about the dog accompanying the sun because you think about the term dog days and how that has to do with the star Sirius being near the sun.
The dog star.
You can see it.
Yeah, it’s visible at certain times of the year in relation to the sun.
But who knows?
Who knows, yeah.
As we said.
All these different names for it.
We know there are fantastic mirages in your world, and if you want to talk about the names for them, give us a call, 877-929-9673, or email us, words@waywordradio.org.
