Septentrion

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Dr. Goodword
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Septentrion

Postby Dr. Goodword » Sun May 21, 2017 8:45 pm

• septentrion •


Pronunciation: sep-ten-tri-ên • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun

Meaning: (Archaic) 1. The north, northern regions. 2. The constellation of the Little Bear.

Notes: I seldom run archaic or obsolete words. I write them up occasionally if I think we might meet them in historical works. This word has, occasionally, been used to refer to a northerner, though the adjective, septentrional "northern", is more often used in this service.

In Play: This word is an arcane expression for "north" that does pop up occasionally on the Web: "These days (summer of 2017), I'm glad my family settled to the septentrion of North Carolina." The same may be said of the adjective: "Those days in Chapel Hill, when the septentrional blasts were blanketing the town with freezing rain, are particularly easy to recall."

Word History: Today's Good Word entered Middle English from Old French, which inherited it from Latin septentriones "seven-plow oxen", referring to the seven principal stars of Ursa Major or Ursa Minor. This compound noun comprises septem "seven" + triones, the plural of trio(n) "plow ox". The same PIE word that produced septem in Latin ended up in Old Germanic as sebun, which made it to English as seven and German as sieben. French merely omitted the suffix on the Latin word to make it sept. The PIE word that came to be trio(n) in Latin was ter-/tor- "to rub, turn, drill" in PIE. It went on to become English thrash, thresh, and throw. (We offer thanks to Rob Towart for today's Good Word, from such an arcane vocabulary that defies description.)
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Slava
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Re: Septentrion

Postby Slava » Mon Jun 28, 2021 5:04 pm

When using this to speak of northern areas, is that relative to where one is? Or is it north of some particular point?

That is, is N. America septentrional to S. America? Canada septentrional to the US? Bolivia to Chile? Or does it have to be above the equator?
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Re: Septentrion

Postby bnjtokyo » Mon Jun 28, 2021 7:38 pm

Slava, I think the answer to your question can be found in the usage examples provided ". . . I'm glad my family settled to the septentrion of North Carolina."

I believe this expression suggests the speaker divided North Carolina into roughly equal northern and southern districts with an imaginary east/west line.

And "septentrional blasts . . . blanketing the town with freezing rain" refers to weather that originated in the boreal forests and tundra that blanket the septentrion of Canada, still further north than Chapel Hill.

So I believe it is correct to say "Bolivia is septentrional to Chile" even though neither Ursa Major or Ursa Minor is visible from either country.


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