Cɔcɔ / cɔɔcɔɔ

[Coleman]

Continuing the discussion from Questions about weather vocab in Peace Corps manual:

@isun

cɔcɔ = heavy rain. Dictionary has this definition: cɔ̀ɔcɔɔ = drizzle. I assume that’s the same word?

Yes, it’s the same word. The recommended spelling these days is cɔɔcɔɔ but you may encounter cɔcɔ as well.

I think that the definition “heavy rain” is a a translation mix-up.

According to Dumestre’s dictionary, cɔcɔ/cɔɔcɔɔ refers to a “small fine and persistent rain; the drizzle of the month of August”.

In Koné’s monolingual dictionary, he describes it as such:

sanji bɛ bala ka na k’à sɔrɔ san ma fin

“rain [that] comes suddenly despite the sky not having darkened”

Basically, it designates a specific kind of seasonal rain/drizzle in the West African context. Not necessarily a good one-to-one with “drizzle” in the way that people might understand it a a general term for light rain in the US, for instance.

[isun]

Interesting, I tried saying this one to my mother-in-law and there was a bit of a translation misunderstanding. I thought it meant downpour at the time.