Etymology
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saturnine (adj.)

"gloomy, morose, sluggish, grave, not readily made excited or cheerful," mid-15c., literally "born under the influence of the planet Saturn," from Middle English Saturne (see Saturn) + -ine (1). Old medicine believed these characteristics to be caused or influenced by the astrological influence of the planet Saturn, which was the most remote from the Sun (in the knowledge of the times) and thus coldest and slowest in its revolution. Saturn also was associated alchemically with lead.

updated on October 26, 2022

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