boreal | Search Online Etymology Dictionary

5 entries found.

"northern," late 15c., from Late Latin borealis, from Latin Boreas "north wind," from Greek Boreas, name of the god of the north wind, which is of unknown origin, perhaps related to words in Sanskrit (giri-) and Balto-Slavic (Lithuanian girė, Old Church Slavonic gora) for "mountain" (also "forest") as if "those living beyond the mountains."

Boreas

"the north wind," late 14c., from Latin Boreas, from Greek (see boreal).

aurora borealis (n.)

1620s, "Northern Lights," literally "northern dawn," said to have been coined by French philosopher Petrus Gassendus (1592-1655) after a spectacular display seen in France Sept. 2, 1621; see aurora + boreal. In northern Scotland and among sailors, sometimes called the dancers, pretty dancers, or merry dancers. Related: Aurora australis (1741).

hyperborean (adj.)

"of or from the extreme north of the Earth," 1590s, from Late Latin hyperboreanus (adj.), from Latin hyperboreus, from Greek hyperboreos "pertaining to the regions of the far north," from hyper "beyond" (see hyper-) + Boreas, name of the god of the North Wind (see boreal).

The Hyperboreans (Greek Hyperboreoi) were an imagined northern people believed by the ancients to be distinguished by piety and happiness; their land being "beyond" (hence, out of reach of) the North Wind, it was thought to be a blissful paradise. Middle English had iperborie "the far north of the Earth" (mid-15c.).

borealis

1790, shortening of aurora borealis (q.v.).

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