Hannah Booth
@hannahbooth.bsky.social
Northumbrian in the Netherlands | Writes about connections between Britain & its North Sea neighbours | Historical linguist turned editor & communication coach
Writing: https://northseanexus.substack.com
Website: https://hannahmarybooth.com
Writing: https://northseanexus.substack.com
Website: https://hannahmarybooth.com
Pinned
Hannah Booth
@hannahbooth.bsky.social
· Jun 8
Navigating North Sea Nexus
Start here!
northseanexus.substack.com
Introducing North Sea Nexus, a Substack exploring Britain’s ties with our North Sea neighbours, past and present.
Click the link to browse by theme:
🖌️ Art, Words & Music
🌊 Coastal Lives & Livelihoods
🪵 Materials, Makers & Merchants
🌱 Nature & Landscape
🧳 Religion & Exile
🕊️ War, Peace & Diplomacy
Click the link to browse by theme:
🖌️ Art, Words & Music
🌊 Coastal Lives & Livelihoods
🪵 Materials, Makers & Merchants
🌱 Nature & Landscape
🧳 Religion & Exile
🕊️ War, Peace & Diplomacy
A tale of three norths in three photos
1️⃣ The pier at Berwick-upon-Tweed, where the rare triple alignment of the Three Norths (True North, Grid North, Magnetic North) left England in December 2025, drifting out into the North Sea.
📸 Lewis Clarke (CC BY-SA 2.0)
1️⃣ The pier at Berwick-upon-Tweed, where the rare triple alignment of the Three Norths (True North, Grid North, Magnetic North) left England in December 2025, drifting out into the North Sea.
📸 Lewis Clarke (CC BY-SA 2.0)
January 4, 2026 at 9:06 AM
A tale of three norths in three photos
1️⃣ The pier at Berwick-upon-Tweed, where the rare triple alignment of the Three Norths (True North, Grid North, Magnetic North) left England in December 2025, drifting out into the North Sea.
📸 Lewis Clarke (CC BY-SA 2.0)
1️⃣ The pier at Berwick-upon-Tweed, where the rare triple alignment of the Three Norths (True North, Grid North, Magnetic North) left England in December 2025, drifting out into the North Sea.
📸 Lewis Clarke (CC BY-SA 2.0)
After the very light dusting yesterday, this morning brings some proper snow
January 3, 2026 at 9:40 AM
After the very light dusting yesterday, this morning brings some proper snow
Just a hint of snow on Utrecht’s Domtoren this morning
January 2, 2026 at 1:16 PM
Just a hint of snow on Utrecht’s Domtoren this morning
Happy New Year 🥂
Some thoughts on the turning of the year from me 👇
northseanexus.substack.com/p/at-the-tur...
Some thoughts on the turning of the year from me 👇
northseanexus.substack.com/p/at-the-tur...
January 1, 2026 at 6:01 PM
Happy New Year 🥂
Some thoughts on the turning of the year from me 👇
northseanexus.substack.com/p/at-the-tur...
Some thoughts on the turning of the year from me 👇
northseanexus.substack.com/p/at-the-tur...
"As ever, the Earth we inhabit for a fleeting moment gives us a fresh perspective on the passing of time. I’ll choose that over the current crop of ‘words of the year’ any day."
Some reading from me at the end of the year🥂
Some reading from me at the end of the year🥂
At the turning of the year
Having previously dedicated many years of my life to the rather niche pursuit of historical linguistics, I usually watch out for the various ‘words of the year’ announced at this point in the calendar...
northseanexus.substack.com
December 31, 2025 at 5:30 PM
"As ever, the Earth we inhabit for a fleeting moment gives us a fresh perspective on the passing of time. I’ll choose that over the current crop of ‘words of the year’ any day."
Some reading from me at the end of the year🥂
Some reading from me at the end of the year🥂
Day 24 and we’ve reached the final window of this year’s Coastal Lexicon Advent Calendar!
Today’s word is:
🌊 tide — the rising and falling of the sea twice each lunar day
A Common Germanic inheritance concerned with time; cognate with German "Zeit", Dutch "tijd", Norwegian/Danish "tid".
1/3
Today’s word is:
🌊 tide — the rising and falling of the sea twice each lunar day
A Common Germanic inheritance concerned with time; cognate with German "Zeit", Dutch "tijd", Norwegian/Danish "tid".
1/3
December 24, 2025 at 9:28 AM
Day 24 and we’ve reached the final window of this year’s Coastal Lexicon Advent Calendar!
Today’s word is:
🌊 tide — the rising and falling of the sea twice each lunar day
A Common Germanic inheritance concerned with time; cognate with German "Zeit", Dutch "tijd", Norwegian/Danish "tid".
1/3
Today’s word is:
🌊 tide — the rising and falling of the sea twice each lunar day
A Common Germanic inheritance concerned with time; cognate with German "Zeit", Dutch "tijd", Norwegian/Danish "tid".
1/3
Day 23 and we've reached penultimate window of this year’s Coastal Lexicon Advent Calendar!
Today’s word is:
🌊 strand — 'the land bordering a sea, a shore or beach'
Common to Germanic, strand being the default ‘beach’ word in Dutch, German, Danish and Norwegian.
Today’s word is:
🌊 strand — 'the land bordering a sea, a shore or beach'
Common to Germanic, strand being the default ‘beach’ word in Dutch, German, Danish and Norwegian.
December 23, 2025 at 8:19 AM
Day 23 and we've reached penultimate window of this year’s Coastal Lexicon Advent Calendar!
Today’s word is:
🌊 strand — 'the land bordering a sea, a shore or beach'
Common to Germanic, strand being the default ‘beach’ word in Dutch, German, Danish and Norwegian.
Today’s word is:
🌊 strand — 'the land bordering a sea, a shore or beach'
Common to Germanic, strand being the default ‘beach’ word in Dutch, German, Danish and Norwegian.
Day 22 of the Coastal Lexicon Advent Calendar and today’s word is:
🌊 eddy — water that runs contrary to the direction of the tide or current, a small whirlpool
"Those great eddees...that suck into them and overwhelm whatever comes within their reach"
(T. Burnet, Sacred Theory of the Earth, 1684)
🌊 eddy — water that runs contrary to the direction of the tide or current, a small whirlpool
"Those great eddees...that suck into them and overwhelm whatever comes within their reach"
(T. Burnet, Sacred Theory of the Earth, 1684)
December 22, 2025 at 10:39 AM
Day 22 of the Coastal Lexicon Advent Calendar and today’s word is:
🌊 eddy — water that runs contrary to the direction of the tide or current, a small whirlpool
"Those great eddees...that suck into them and overwhelm whatever comes within their reach"
(T. Burnet, Sacred Theory of the Earth, 1684)
🌊 eddy — water that runs contrary to the direction of the tide or current, a small whirlpool
"Those great eddees...that suck into them and overwhelm whatever comes within their reach"
(T. Burnet, Sacred Theory of the Earth, 1684)
🎄Some seasonal reading from me:
🌊 On carols, sailors, Saint Nicholas and Christmas on the sea
🌊 On carols, sailors, Saint Nicholas and Christmas on the sea
I saw three ships come sailing in
On the sea at Christmas
northseanexus.substack.com
December 21, 2025 at 1:50 PM
🎄Some seasonal reading from me:
🌊 On carols, sailors, Saint Nicholas and Christmas on the sea
🌊 On carols, sailors, Saint Nicholas and Christmas on the sea
Reposted by Hannah Booth
A small piece of sea off Hoy
December 21, 2025 at 12:33 PM
A small piece of sea off Hoy
Day 21 of the Coastal Lexicon Advent Calendar and today’s word is:
bight — 'a bend in a coastline, a shallow bay'
Common to Germanic, cognate with Dutch bocht, German Bucht.
As in German Bight from the Shipping Forecast:
"There are warnings of gales in Forth, Tyne, Dogger, Fisher, German Bight…"
bight — 'a bend in a coastline, a shallow bay'
Common to Germanic, cognate with Dutch bocht, German Bucht.
As in German Bight from the Shipping Forecast:
"There are warnings of gales in Forth, Tyne, Dogger, Fisher, German Bight…"
December 21, 2025 at 9:16 AM
Day 21 of the Coastal Lexicon Advent Calendar and today’s word is:
bight — 'a bend in a coastline, a shallow bay'
Common to Germanic, cognate with Dutch bocht, German Bucht.
As in German Bight from the Shipping Forecast:
"There are warnings of gales in Forth, Tyne, Dogger, Fisher, German Bight…"
bight — 'a bend in a coastline, a shallow bay'
Common to Germanic, cognate with Dutch bocht, German Bucht.
As in German Bight from the Shipping Forecast:
"There are warnings of gales in Forth, Tyne, Dogger, Fisher, German Bight…"
Only 4 days left to go in this year’s Coastal Lexicon Advent Calendar — reflections on a different coastal word each day, gradually building up a ‘coastal lexicon’ as we get nearer to Christmas🎄
🌊You can catch up on Days 1-20 in the post below — many thanks to everyone who has got involved so far!
🌊You can catch up on Days 1-20 in the post below — many thanks to everyone who has got involved so far!
The Coastal Lexicon Advent Calendar
A love letter to language, landscape, place, history and the sea
northseanexus.substack.com
December 20, 2025 at 9:04 AM
Only 4 days left to go in this year’s Coastal Lexicon Advent Calendar — reflections on a different coastal word each day, gradually building up a ‘coastal lexicon’ as we get nearer to Christmas🎄
🌊You can catch up on Days 1-20 in the post below — many thanks to everyone who has got involved so far!
🌊You can catch up on Days 1-20 in the post below — many thanks to everyone who has got involved so far!
Day 20 of the Coastal Lexicon Advent Calendar and today’s word is:
🌊 fog dog — a break or clear patch in a fog at sea
"These transient breaks, which are called by the sailors ‘Fog dogs’...are generally considered good"
(Athenæum, 2 April 1831)
📸 Sea, gulls and fog, neekoh.fi (CC BY 2.0)
🌊 fog dog — a break or clear patch in a fog at sea
"These transient breaks, which are called by the sailors ‘Fog dogs’...are generally considered good"
(Athenæum, 2 April 1831)
📸 Sea, gulls and fog, neekoh.fi (CC BY 2.0)
December 20, 2025 at 8:45 AM
Day 20 of the Coastal Lexicon Advent Calendar and today’s word is:
🌊 fog dog — a break or clear patch in a fog at sea
"These transient breaks, which are called by the sailors ‘Fog dogs’...are generally considered good"
(Athenæum, 2 April 1831)
📸 Sea, gulls and fog, neekoh.fi (CC BY 2.0)
🌊 fog dog — a break or clear patch in a fog at sea
"These transient breaks, which are called by the sailors ‘Fog dogs’...are generally considered good"
(Athenæum, 2 April 1831)
📸 Sea, gulls and fog, neekoh.fi (CC BY 2.0)
Day 19 of the Coastal Lexicon Advent Calendar and today’s word is:
🌊 geo — a rocky gully on the coast in Caithness, Orkney and Shetland
A Norse borrowing < gjá 'rift, cleft, chasm', as in the Faroese village Gjógv
Formed by high-energy wave erosion along a line of structural weakness in the rock
🌊 geo — a rocky gully on the coast in Caithness, Orkney and Shetland
A Norse borrowing < gjá 'rift, cleft, chasm', as in the Faroese village Gjógv
Formed by high-energy wave erosion along a line of structural weakness in the rock
December 19, 2025 at 10:54 AM
Day 19 of the Coastal Lexicon Advent Calendar and today’s word is:
🌊 geo — a rocky gully on the coast in Caithness, Orkney and Shetland
A Norse borrowing < gjá 'rift, cleft, chasm', as in the Faroese village Gjógv
Formed by high-energy wave erosion along a line of structural weakness in the rock
🌊 geo — a rocky gully on the coast in Caithness, Orkney and Shetland
A Norse borrowing < gjá 'rift, cleft, chasm', as in the Faroese village Gjógv
Formed by high-energy wave erosion along a line of structural weakness in the rock
Day 18 of the Coastal Lexicon Advent Calendar and today’s word is:
🌊 cuddy duck — a local name in NE England for the Common Eider, a large seaduck found along northern coastlines
Named after St Cuthbert, the 7th-century Northumbrian saint traditionally associated with various bird-related miracles
🌊 cuddy duck — a local name in NE England for the Common Eider, a large seaduck found along northern coastlines
Named after St Cuthbert, the 7th-century Northumbrian saint traditionally associated with various bird-related miracles
December 18, 2025 at 8:18 AM
Day 18 of the Coastal Lexicon Advent Calendar and today’s word is:
🌊 cuddy duck — a local name in NE England for the Common Eider, a large seaduck found along northern coastlines
Named after St Cuthbert, the 7th-century Northumbrian saint traditionally associated with various bird-related miracles
🌊 cuddy duck — a local name in NE England for the Common Eider, a large seaduck found along northern coastlines
Named after St Cuthbert, the 7th-century Northumbrian saint traditionally associated with various bird-related miracles
Day 17 of the Coastal Lexicon Advent Calendar and today’s word is:
🌊 shingle — smooth, waterworn pebbles as found on the seashore
Origin unclear, perhaps imitative of the sound of water running over such pebbles.
As in various coastal place names, notably the Suffolk village of Shingle Street.
🌊 shingle — smooth, waterworn pebbles as found on the seashore
Origin unclear, perhaps imitative of the sound of water running over such pebbles.
As in various coastal place names, notably the Suffolk village of Shingle Street.
December 17, 2025 at 7:52 AM
Day 17 of the Coastal Lexicon Advent Calendar and today’s word is:
🌊 shingle — smooth, waterworn pebbles as found on the seashore
Origin unclear, perhaps imitative of the sound of water running over such pebbles.
As in various coastal place names, notably the Suffolk village of Shingle Street.
🌊 shingle — smooth, waterworn pebbles as found on the seashore
Origin unclear, perhaps imitative of the sound of water running over such pebbles.
As in various coastal place names, notably the Suffolk village of Shingle Street.
Day 16 of the Coastal Lexicon Advent Calendar and today’s word is:
🌊 lee — the sheltered side of a ship, turned away from the wind
Whence leeway — ‘the sideways drift of a ship leeward of the desired course’, and also figuratively — ‘scope for freedom of action or thought’
📸 Dguendel (CC BY 3.0)
🌊 lee — the sheltered side of a ship, turned away from the wind
Whence leeway — ‘the sideways drift of a ship leeward of the desired course’, and also figuratively — ‘scope for freedom of action or thought’
📸 Dguendel (CC BY 3.0)
December 16, 2025 at 7:27 AM
Day 16 of the Coastal Lexicon Advent Calendar and today’s word is:
🌊 lee — the sheltered side of a ship, turned away from the wind
Whence leeway — ‘the sideways drift of a ship leeward of the desired course’, and also figuratively — ‘scope for freedom of action or thought’
📸 Dguendel (CC BY 3.0)
🌊 lee — the sheltered side of a ship, turned away from the wind
Whence leeway — ‘the sideways drift of a ship leeward of the desired course’, and also figuratively — ‘scope for freedom of action or thought’
📸 Dguendel (CC BY 3.0)
Reposted by Hannah Booth
Caedmon’s Cross, erected in honour of the earliest English poet whose name is known, in the graveyard of St Mary’s Church in Whitby in 1898. Cædmon (657–684) cared for the animals at the double monastery of Streonæshalch (now known as Whitby Abbey) during the abbacy of St. Hilda (657–680).
December 15, 2025 at 11:22 AM
Caedmon’s Cross, erected in honour of the earliest English poet whose name is known, in the graveyard of St Mary’s Church in Whitby in 1898. Cædmon (657–684) cared for the animals at the double monastery of Streonæshalch (now known as Whitby Abbey) during the abbacy of St. Hilda (657–680).
Reposted by Hannah Booth
December 9, 2025 at 8:55 AM
Day 15 of the Coastal Lexicon Advent Calendar and today’s word is:
🌊 whorl — each turn or coil of a spiral shell
"See what a lovely shell...With delicate spire and whorl"
(Tennyson, 1855)
The European Ribbed Wentletrap below takes its name from the Dutch word wenteltrap — ‘spiral staircase’.
🌊 whorl — each turn or coil of a spiral shell
"See what a lovely shell...With delicate spire and whorl"
(Tennyson, 1855)
The European Ribbed Wentletrap below takes its name from the Dutch word wenteltrap — ‘spiral staircase’.
December 15, 2025 at 8:14 AM
Day 15 of the Coastal Lexicon Advent Calendar and today’s word is:
🌊 whorl — each turn or coil of a spiral shell
"See what a lovely shell...With delicate spire and whorl"
(Tennyson, 1855)
The European Ribbed Wentletrap below takes its name from the Dutch word wenteltrap — ‘spiral staircase’.
🌊 whorl — each turn or coil of a spiral shell
"See what a lovely shell...With delicate spire and whorl"
(Tennyson, 1855)
The European Ribbed Wentletrap below takes its name from the Dutch word wenteltrap — ‘spiral staircase’.
Day 14 of the Coastal Lexicon Advent Calendar and today’s word is:
🌊 wash — a tract of land “washed” regularly by the sea
As in The Wash, where King John was caught out in 1216:
"half my power this night...are taken by the tide;
These Lincoln Washes have devoured them"
(Shakespeare, King John)
🌊 wash — a tract of land “washed” regularly by the sea
As in The Wash, where King John was caught out in 1216:
"half my power this night...are taken by the tide;
These Lincoln Washes have devoured them"
(Shakespeare, King John)
December 14, 2025 at 9:21 AM
Day 14 of the Coastal Lexicon Advent Calendar and today’s word is:
🌊 wash — a tract of land “washed” regularly by the sea
As in The Wash, where King John was caught out in 1216:
"half my power this night...are taken by the tide;
These Lincoln Washes have devoured them"
(Shakespeare, King John)
🌊 wash — a tract of land “washed” regularly by the sea
As in The Wash, where King John was caught out in 1216:
"half my power this night...are taken by the tide;
These Lincoln Washes have devoured them"
(Shakespeare, King John)
Day 13 of the Coastal Lexicon Advent Calendar and today’s word is:
🌊 selkie — a seal, or in folklore a spirit which can shapeshift between human and seal form
"I am a man upon the land and I am a silkie in the sea"
(Ballad The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry)
📸 Baron Reznik (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 cropped)
🌊 selkie — a seal, or in folklore a spirit which can shapeshift between human and seal form
"I am a man upon the land and I am a silkie in the sea"
(Ballad The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry)
📸 Baron Reznik (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 cropped)
December 13, 2025 at 9:27 AM
Day 13 of the Coastal Lexicon Advent Calendar and today’s word is:
🌊 selkie — a seal, or in folklore a spirit which can shapeshift between human and seal form
"I am a man upon the land and I am a silkie in the sea"
(Ballad The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry)
📸 Baron Reznik (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 cropped)
🌊 selkie — a seal, or in folklore a spirit which can shapeshift between human and seal form
"I am a man upon the land and I am a silkie in the sea"
(Ballad The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry)
📸 Baron Reznik (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 cropped)
Reposted by Hannah Booth
This is cool. The three norths (True, Grid, Magnetic) met in Dorset in November 2022, worked their way northwards in tandem, and are now about to leave England and go hand in hand into the North Sea.
www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/news/three-n...
www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/news/three-n...
December 12, 2025 at 5:13 PM
This is cool. The three norths (True, Grid, Magnetic) met in Dorset in November 2022, worked their way northwards in tandem, and are now about to leave England and go hand in hand into the North Sea.
www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/news/three-n...
www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/news/three-n...
Day 12 of the Coastal Lexicon Advent Calendar and today’s word is:
🌊 wrack — remnants or goods from a wrecked vessel, esp. when driven ashore
Borrowed from Dutch/Low German, as in Du. "scheepswrak" ‘shipwreck’
"As rich…As is the ooze and bottom of the sea With sunken wrack"
(Shakespeare, Henry V)
🌊 wrack — remnants or goods from a wrecked vessel, esp. when driven ashore
Borrowed from Dutch/Low German, as in Du. "scheepswrak" ‘shipwreck’
"As rich…As is the ooze and bottom of the sea With sunken wrack"
(Shakespeare, Henry V)
December 12, 2025 at 9:03 AM
Day 12 of the Coastal Lexicon Advent Calendar and today’s word is:
🌊 wrack — remnants or goods from a wrecked vessel, esp. when driven ashore
Borrowed from Dutch/Low German, as in Du. "scheepswrak" ‘shipwreck’
"As rich…As is the ooze and bottom of the sea With sunken wrack"
(Shakespeare, Henry V)
🌊 wrack — remnants or goods from a wrecked vessel, esp. when driven ashore
Borrowed from Dutch/Low German, as in Du. "scheepswrak" ‘shipwreck’
"As rich…As is the ooze and bottom of the sea With sunken wrack"
(Shakespeare, Henry V)
Day 11 of the Coastal Lexicon Advent Calendar and today’s word is:
🌊 neap (tide) — occurring at the 1st & 3rd quarters of the moon, when the high-water level is lowest
"Such a dead Neipe...as no Man living was known to have seen the like, the Sea fell so far back from the Land"
(H. Spelman, 1698)
🌊 neap (tide) — occurring at the 1st & 3rd quarters of the moon, when the high-water level is lowest
"Such a dead Neipe...as no Man living was known to have seen the like, the Sea fell so far back from the Land"
(H. Spelman, 1698)
December 11, 2025 at 8:43 AM
Day 11 of the Coastal Lexicon Advent Calendar and today’s word is:
🌊 neap (tide) — occurring at the 1st & 3rd quarters of the moon, when the high-water level is lowest
"Such a dead Neipe...as no Man living was known to have seen the like, the Sea fell so far back from the Land"
(H. Spelman, 1698)
🌊 neap (tide) — occurring at the 1st & 3rd quarters of the moon, when the high-water level is lowest
"Such a dead Neipe...as no Man living was known to have seen the like, the Sea fell so far back from the Land"
(H. Spelman, 1698)