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southern

Old English suðerne, from suð "south" (see south) + -erne, suffix denoting direction. A common Germanic compound (Old Frisian suthern, Old Norse suðroenn, Old High German sundroni). The constellation Southern Cross so called in English by 1756.

Entries related to southern

south (adv.)
Old English suð "southward, to the south, southern, in the south," from Proto-Germanic *sunthaz, perhaps literally "sun-side" (source also of Old Saxon, Old Frisian suth "southward, in the south," Middle Dutch suut, Dutch zuid, German Süden), and related to base of *sunnon "sun" (from PIE root *sawel- "the sun"). Old French sur, sud (French sud), Spanish sur, sud are loan-words from Germanic, perhaps from Old Norse suðr.

As an adjective from c. 1300; as a noun, "one of the four cardinal points," also "southern region of a country," both late 13c. The Southern states of the U.S. have been collectively called The South since 1779 (in early use this often referred only to Georgia and South Carolina). South country in Britain means the part below the Tweed, in England the part below the Wash, and in Scotland the part below the Forth. South Sea meant "the Mediterranean" (late 14c.) and "the English Channel" (early 15c.) before it came to mean (in plural) "the South Pacific Ocean" (1520s). The nautical coat called a sou'wester (1836) protects the wearer against severe weather, such as a gale out of the southwest.
*sawel- 

*sāwel-, Proto-Indo-European root meaning "the sun." According to Watkins, the *-el- in it originally was a suffix, and there was an alternative form *s(u)wen-, with suffix *-en-, hence the two forms represented by Latin sol, English sun.

It forms all or part of: anthelion; aphelion; girasole; heliacal; helio-; heliotrope; helium; insolate; insolation; parasol; parhelion; perihelion; Sol; solar; solarium; solstice; south; southern; sun; Sunday.

It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit suryah, Avestan hvar "sun, light, heavens;" Greek hēlios; Latin sol "the sun, sunlight;" Lithuanian saulė, Old Church Slavonic slunice; Gothic sauil, Old English sol "sun;" Old English swegl "sky, heavens, the sun;" Welsh haul, Old Cornish heuul, Breton heol "sun;" Old Irish suil "eye;" Avestan xueng "sun;" Old Irish fur-sunnud "lighting up;" Old English sunne German Sonne, Gothic sunno "the sun."

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Definitions of southern

southern (adj.)
in or characteristic of a region of the United States south of (approximately) the Mason-Dixon line;
southern hospitality
southern cooking
southern plantations
southern (adj.)
situated in or oriented toward the south;
a southern exposure
Synonyms: southerly
southern (adj.)
situated in or coming from regions of the south;
the southern hemisphere
southern constellations
southern (adj.)
from the south; used especially of wind;
southern breezes
Synonyms: southerly
From wordnet.princeton.edu

Dictionary entries near southern

south

South Africa

southbound

southeast

southerly

southern

southerner

southernmost

southland

southmost

southpaw

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