Quote:
Originally Posted by Stitchawl
Ask as biologist if they would ever use the word 'subniveal' in this manner. If describing the snow-free zone in which rodents travel under the snow cover, the term 'subnivean layer' is frequently used. Does the writer intend to mean that the lawn was snow free? Or was the intent to say that the lawn was simply snow-covered? If so, I don't believe subnivial would be correct usage. It feels more like the writer just added it in for color, without really understanding its meaning. He saw the prefix 'sub' and the root 'niveal,' and thought it would work to mean 'under the snow,' rather than its real meaning.
Stitchawl
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Why would you ask a biologist? That would be like asking a cosmologist about "inflation" when the word was used in the context of economics.
Just because the adjective subnivean is used to describe a climate or habitat in biology in no way means that it is incorrect to use it in other contexts.
ApK