Septentrional, meaning "of the
north
North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography.
Etymology
T ...
", is a
Latinate
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...
adjective sometimes used in
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
. It is a form of the Latin noun ''septentriones'', which refers to the seven stars of the ''
Plough
A plough or plow ( US; both ) is a farm tool for loosening or turning the soil before sowing seed or planting. Ploughs were traditionally drawn by oxen and horses, but in modern farms are drawn by tractors. A plough may have a wooden, iron or ...
'' (Big Dipper), occasionally called the ''Septentrion''.
In the 18th century, septentrional languages was a recognised term for the
Germanic languages
The Germanic languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family spoken natively by a population of about 515 million people mainly in Europe, North America, Oceania and Southern Africa. The most widely spoken Germanic language, Engli ...
.
Etymology and background
The ''
Oxford English Dictionary
The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the first and foundational historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a com ...
'' gives the etymology of ''septentrional'' as:
"Septentrional" is more or less synonymous with the term "boreal", derived from
Boreas, a Greek god of the
North Wind. The constellation
Ursa Major
Ursa Major (; also known as the Great Bear) is a constellation in the northern sky, whose associated mythology likely dates back into prehistory. Its Latin name means "greater (or larger) bear," referring to and contrasting it with nearby Ursa ...
, containing the Big Dipper, or Plough, dominates the skies of the North. The usual antonym for ''septentrional'' is the term ''
meridional'', which refers to the noonday sun.
Usage
The term ''septentrional'' is found on maps, mostly those made before 1700. Early maps of North America often refer to the northern- and northwesternmost unexplored areas of the continent as at the "Septentrional" and as "America Septentrionalis", sometimes with slightly varying spellings.
[For example, the "Double Hemisphere" world map, by Moses Pitt, dated about 1680, labels North America as ''America Septentriona'', to identify the uncharted, northwest of North America.] Sometimes abbreviated to "Sep.", it was used in historical astronomy to indicate the northern direction on the celestial globe, together with
Meridional ("Mer.") for southern,
Oriental
The Orient is a term for the East in relation to Europe, traditionally comprising anything belonging to the Eastern world. It is the antonym of ''Occident'', the Western World. In English, it is largely a metonym for, and coterminous with, the ...
("Ori.") for eastern and
Occidental
Occidental may refer to:
* Western world (of or pertaining to)
Places
*Occidental, California, a town in Sonoma County, California, US
* Occidental Park (Seattle)
Other uses
* Interlingue, a constructed language formerly known as Occidental
* Oc ...
("Occ.") for western.
The linguistic usage in the 17th and 18th centuries was as an
umbrella term
In linguistics, semantics, general semantics, and ontologies, hyponymy () is a semantic relation between a hyponym denoting a subtype and a hypernym or hyperonym (sometimes called umbrella term or blanket term) denoting a supertype. In other wor ...
. It described "the Germanic languages, usually with particular emphasis on Anglo-Saxon, Old Norse and Gothic." Writing of
Johann Georg Keyßler Johann Georg Keyßler (or Keyssler when the letter ß is avoided; 1693–1743) was a German polymath, known for his travel writings and his archaeology. He is regarded as the father of German protohistory.
Born in Thurnau, Keyßler first studied ...
in 1758,
Thomas Gray
Thomas Gray (26 December 1716 – 30 July 1771) was an English poet, letter-writer, classics, classical scholar, and professor at Pembroke College, Cambridge, Pembroke College, Cambridge. He is widely known for his ''Elegy Written in a Country ...
distinguished between "Celtic" and "septentrional" antiquities.
Thomas Percy actively criticised the blurring of the Celtic and the Germanic in the name of the "septentrional", while at the same time
Ossianism
Ossian (; Irish Gaelic/Scottish Gaelic: ''Oisean'') is the narrator and purported author of a cycle of epic poems published by the Scottish poet James Macpherson, originally as ''Fingal'' (1761) and ''Temora'' (1763), and later combined under ...
favoured it.
James Ingram in his inaugural lecture of 1807 called
George Hickes George Hickes may refer to:
* George Hickes (divine) (1642–1715), English divine and scholar
* George Hickes (Manitoba politician) (born 1946), Canadian politician
* George Hickes (Nunavut politician)
George Hickes, Jr. is a Canadian politi ...
"the first of septentrional scholars" for his pioneering lexicographical work on Anglo-Saxon. In current usage, "septentrional fiction" may refer to a setting in the Canadian North.
In
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
, the term septentrional refers to the Northern stretch of the
Côtes du Rhône AOC
Côtes du Rhône is a wine-growing ''Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée'' (AOC) for the Rhône wine region of France, which may be used throughout the region, also in those areas which are covered by other AOCs. In a limited part of the region, ...
winemaking region. The Northern Rhône, or septentrional, runs along the
Rhône river
The Rhône ( , ; wae, Rotten ; frp, Rôno ; oc, Ròse ) is a major river in France and Switzerland, rising in the Alps and flowing west and south through Lake Geneva and southeastern France before discharging into the Mediterranean Sea. At Ar ...
from Vienne in the north, to Montélimar in the south. It includes the eight
crus:
Côte Rôtie,
Condrieu
Condrieu () is a commune in the Rhône department in eastern France.
It is situated on the right bank of the Rhône, some south of Vienne and 44 km south of Lyon, at the foot of the lower slopes of the Mont Monnet. It has an area of 921 h ...
,
Château-Grillet,
Hermitage,
Saint-Joseph,
Crozes-Hermitage
Crozes-Hermitage (; oc, Croses e Ermitatge) is a commune in the Drôme department in southeastern France.
Population
Wine
Wine is produced under the Crozes-Hermitage AOC designation.
See also
*Communes of the Drôme department
The follo ...
,
Cornas
Cornas is a Communes of France, commune in the département of Ardèche in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region in southern France. The name is Celtic for "burnt land."
Population
Economy
The region is famous for wine, which i ...
and
Saint-Péray
Saint-Péray (; oc, Sant Pèire d'Ai) is a commune in the Ardèche department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in southern France.
Population
See also
* Château de Crussol, located on the territory of the commune.
*Communes of the Ardà ...
.
Huit Crus Celebres
/ref> The Southern Rhône is referred to as the meridional (''Rhône méridionale''), and extends from Montélimar in the north, to Avignon
Avignon (, ; ; oc, Avinhon, label=Provençal dialect, Provençal or , ; la, Avenio) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Vaucluse Departments of France, department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region of So ...
in the south.
See also
*Septentrionalist
The Viking revival was a movement reflecting new interest in, and appreciation for Viking medieval history and culture. Interest was reawakened in the late 18th and 19th centuries, often with added heroic overtones typical of that Romanticism, Rom ...
*Oriental
The Orient is a term for the East in relation to Europe, traditionally comprising anything belonging to the Eastern world. It is the antonym of ''Occident'', the Western World. In English, it is largely a metonym for, and coterminous with, the ...
*Occidental
Occidental may refer to:
* Western world (of or pertaining to)
Places
*Occidental, California, a town in Sonoma County, California, US
* Occidental Park (Seattle)
Other uses
* Interlingue, a constructed language formerly known as Occidental
* Oc ...
*Boreal
Boreal may refer to:
Climatology and geography
*Boreal (age), the first climatic phase of the Blytt-Sernander sequence of northern Europe, during the Holocene epoch
*Boreal climate, a climate characterized by long winters and short, cool to mild ...
* Austral
*''Myotis septentrionalis
''Myotis septentrionalis'', known as the northern long-eared bat or northern myotis, is a species of bat native to North America. There are no recognized subspecies. The northern long-eared bat is about 3–3.7 inches in length, with a wingspan ...
'', the Northern Long-eared Bat
Notes
References
{{Reflist
Geography of the Arctic
Orientation (geometry)