borrin - fog - niebla

[Is]

borrin: pronounced boh-REEN, also known as borrina: pronounced boh-REE-nah. Fog, mist, haze.

There are many words in the local language to describe fog, a common weather phenomenon in Asturias. Borrin is a cloudlike mass of condensed water vapor lying close to the ground that reduces visibility. It is distinct from orbayu in that it does not imply a fine drizzle.

Borrin is common in Asturias in fall, winter and spring. During the summer months, it can hang for days along coastal areas (like the Asturian airport) or above river valleys. Some cities, like Xixon, can be entirely rubbed out by fog in the summer months, with only the beach exposed to the sun.

There are sub-categories of the word borrin specifying what the origin of the water vapor is: borrin esgayatao, borrinada. In some areas, borrin implies only the fog that comes in from the sea. Other words for fog are cierzu/cierzo (West Asturias) and nublina.

Usage examples:

L’avion d’Iberia nun quixo aterrizar pola mor del borrin. [The Iberia flight did not land because of foggy conditions.]
Col borrin nun viamos nada na carretera camin d’Estela. [Because of the fog, we couldn’t see anything on the road to Estela.]
Pula tarde baxou el borrin a Las Veigas. [Fog settled in Las Veigas in the afternoon.]
Punxose mal el tiempu ya vieno el cierzu. [The weather turned and fog settled in.]

Folk wisdom:

Cuando llueve y fai nublina, canta’l gallu na cocina. [When it rains and the fog settles, you can hear the rooster crowing in the kitchen.]
Escampa nublina, escampa, qu’hai un l.lobu tres la campa cumiendu una uvea blanca. [Clear up, fog, clear up. There’s a wolf beyond that hill eating a white sheep.]

Here’s a recent picture (April 2009) of the village of Estela in County Eilao (Illano, in Spanish) about to be enveloped by a finger of borrin coming from the village of Tamagordas above the Navia River: