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  What it means

  Literally “if the heatwave falls during haymaking and harvest time, the winter will be harsh and bitter; but if there is rain, winter will bring much mud.” This is a traditional Polish weather proverb used by farmers to predict the coming winter based on summer conditions. Hot, dry summers were associated with cold, snowy winters, while a wet summer foretold a mild, muddy one. It reflects centuries of rural observation of weather patterns.

  English equivalent

  A dry summer foretells a hard winter.

  Vocabulary

  • upały — heatwave, intense heat (nominative plural of upał)
  • sianokosy — haymaking time (nominative plural of sianokos — typically June–July)
  • żniwa — harvest time (nominative plural of żniwo — typically August–September)
  • ostra — harsh, sharp (nominative feminine adjective)
  • dokuczliwa — bothersome, oppressive (nominative feminine adjective)
  • słota — rainy, wet weather; drizzle (nominative singular feminine noun)
  • błoto — mud (nominative singular neuter noun)

  Grammar note

  The proverb uses the conditional jeśli / jeżeli (if) followed by a present-tense verb to state a timeless generalisation, not a specific future event. Sianokosy and żniwa are in the locative case after the preposition w (in / during): w sianokosy, w żniwa. The predicative adjectives ostra and dokuczliwa agree with zima (feminine), while błoto is a nominative subject in the second clause.

  Cultural context

  This proverb comes from the agricultural folk calendar that structured peasant life in Poland for centuries. Sianokosy (haymaking) and żniwa (harvest) were the two most labour-intensive periods of the year, so weather during them was closely watched. Such long-form weather rhymes — sometimes called 'calendar proverbs' (przysłowia kalendarzowe) — were passed down orally and often encoded genuine observations about regional microclimate patterns.

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