Thread: 8.0 speculation

Originally Posted by Cleretic

I also think associating the Winterers with winter is, while an understandable mistake to make, undoubtedly a mistake.

I agree with this and have been saying it from the beginning, but...

Originally Posted by Cleretic

in fact given 'winterers' as a term are for things like hummingbirds that specifically aren't around for cold weather, we should just assume no coldness is related to the Winterers in turn.

Originally Posted by Cilia

The term "Winterers" hasn't been well explained yet, but the term refers to a group that goes to a more hospitable environment for a period while waiting for conditions in their normal range to improve (e.g. birds migrate southward to winter during the cold season a.k.a. winter).

This definition keeps getting passed around the fandom and I don't agree with it either.

While it is one potential meaning for the term, it is an incomplete picture and I think it is choosing the wrong implication.

winterer

Any person or animal (but especially a bird) that visits or resides in a specified location during the winter

Verb winter

1. To spend the winter (in a particular place).
Example 1: When they retired, they hoped to winter in Florida.
Example 2: 2022 December 27, “Ukraine war: Five ways conflict could go in 2023”, in BBC News‎[2]:
Those who seek to invade another country anywhere across the great Eurasian steppes are condemned eventually to winter in it.

2. To store something (for instance animals) somewhere over winter to protect it from cold.

overwinter

1. To keep or preserve for the winter.
It is best to overwinter tender plants indoors.

2. To spend the winter (in a particular place).
Insects may overwinter in fallen fruit if it is not removed.

None of these define that the location for spending the winter has to be a warm place, or far away from their usual location, or a pleasant place to be. It can mean bunkering down and surviving in a relatively safe spot within the inhospitable landscape, and it can mean keeping something safe and cared for during that period.

I think it's very likely the Winterers' implied "winter" is metaphorical in this case, but it doesn't have to mean they have fled from elsewhere or planning to flee elsewhere.