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"North" and "South" in Latin | ||
Tags: Latin | Meaning of words | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Philological Room |  | |
| dotancohen Diglot Newbie Israel dotancohen.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4876 days ago 9 posts - 10 votes Speaks: English, Modern Hebrew Studies: Russian | Message 1 of 19 26 November 2011 at 11:39pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I am trying to find the Latin words for north and south (the cardinal directions). This comes about due to the etymology of the word "Australia".
I find some websites that translate north as "Septentrionalis" but I understand this to refer to the seven oxen, or what we today call the Big Dipper, as it is in the northern sky. Other websites translate north as "boreas" or "aquilon" though I think that the former is actually a Greek wind god and the later is his Roman name. Did the Romans have names for the cardinal directions? I would assume this to be true as they were terrific conquerors and performed military strategy. So what would the correct words for north and south be? Thanks! Edited by Fasulye on 28 November 2011 at 1:07pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Cabaire Senior Member Germany Joined 5599 days ago 725 posts - 1352 votes  | Message 2 of 19 27 November 2011 at 5:24am | IP Logged | |||||
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Your information is correct. For North and South the words septembriones and meridies are used, which are metonymies of "the big Dipper" and "the noon" respectively.
And many names for winds are used mainly in poetry to indicate the cardinal directions. But Austria is originally a Germanic word *austar and means "in the East". It has nothing to do with the wind auster, but Australia, the terra australis, the "land in the South" has. Edited by Cabaire on 27 November 2011 at 5:25am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| dotancohen Diglot Newbie Israel dotancohen.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4876 days ago 9 posts - 10 votes Speaks: English, Modern Hebrew Studies: Russian | Message 3 of 19 27 November 2011 at 9:01am | IP Logged | |||||
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Thank you Cabaire. It is quite the root of the word "australis" that I am looking for. If I am not mistaken the word means "southernly", not south, so I would expect to find a word for south with a common root. However, I cannot find such as word. Does Latin have adjectives which lack an associated noun?
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| Cabaire Senior Member Germany Joined 5599 days ago 725 posts - 1352 votes | Message 4 of 19 27 November 2011 at 11:00am | IP Logged | |||||
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The noun is auster and means "wind from the south", and in metonymy "the South"
There are two adjectives derived: a) austrinus b) australis The second one means only "southernly", the first one also "concerning the South wind" 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Cabaire Senior Member Germany Joined 5599 days ago 725 posts - 1352 votes | Message 5 of 19 27 November 2011 at 11:43am | IP Logged | |||||
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PS. You should be used to this usage from Hebrew:
תימן means south in Jos15,1 and Jes4,6 like in modern Hebrew, but south wind in Ps78,26 and Hi39,26: יסע קדים בשמים וינהג בעזו תימן (He caused an east wind to blow in the heaven and by his power he brought in the south wind) 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| dotancohen Diglot Newbie Israel dotancohen.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4876 days ago 9 posts - 10 votes Speaks: English, Modern Hebrew Studies: Russian | Message 6 of 19 27 November 2011 at 3:54pm | IP Logged | |||||
I see, thanks! That is exactly the information that I needed.
Interesting. I would not have translated it such. As you probably know, we today use the word תימן to refer to the nation of Yemen. I had always thought that the root of the word is from ימין "right" as the land of Yemen in on the right-side of ancient maps (to the south) as the rising sun appears at the top of those maps. Of course the ancient land of תימן does not necessarily correspond to the current nation of Yemen any more than the ancient lands of צרפת or ספרד correspond to the current nations of France or Spain. By your quote I assume that you have context, if not I can provide it. Thanks for that interesting perspective. I wonder if the English was translated as "east wind" and "south wind" due to the influence of the Greek gods on literary English. I do not think that the winds are implicit in the Hebrew. If you want I can consult a rabbi on the matter. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| dotancohen Diglot Newbie Israel dotancohen.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4876 days ago 9 posts - 10 votes Speaks: English, Modern Hebrew Studies: Russian | Message 7 of 19 27 November 2011 at 5:59pm | IP Logged | |||||
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And now, to throw a wrench:
In astronomy we have the aurora australis in the south and the aurora borealis in the north. According to Wikipedia [1], "auster" is in fact the Roman equivalent of the Greek Νότος, or northern wind. However "boreas" is a Greek word, Βορέας, not Roman! The Roman equivalent is aquilo. So, are the "southern lights" derived from a Latin word whereas the "northern lights" are derived from a Greek word? I can think of other places where auster / boreas are used as south / north. I find it unusual that this common pair would be derived from two different languages. Could you shed any light on the matter, or point me to a resource that could? Thanks! [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anemoi 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Cabaire Senior Member Germany Joined 5599 days ago 725 posts - 1352 votes | Message 8 of 19 27 November 2011 at 11:31pm | IP Logged | |||||
I don't find this strange. Firstly the Romans borrowed a lot of Greek vocabulary; boreas was used by such prominent authors like Vergil, Ovid, Catull, Horaz and Livius as a loan word. So boreas is a Latin word. Secondly the modern scientific vocabulary borrows heavily from Latin and Greek and treat them as one source. You need to be a very sensitive classicist to recoil from hybrid words like mammography, neoliberal or automobile. So I cannot worry about aurora australis versus aurora borealis Edited by Cabaire on 27 November 2011 at 11:32pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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