Septentrional

The Oxford English Dictionary gives the etymology of septentrional as:

{{quote|[ad. L. septentrio, sing. of septentriōnēs, orig. septem triōnēs, the seven stars of the constellation of the Great Bear, f. septem seven + triōnes, pl. of trio plough-ox. Cf. F. septentrion.]{{Cite web |url=http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/176201?redirectedFrom=Septentrional#eid |title=septentrional |work=Oxford English Dictionary |year=1989 |edition=2nd 1989, online March 2012 |accessdate=28 March 2012}}}}

"Septentrional" is more or less synonymous with the term "boreal", derived from Boreas, a Greek god of the North Wind. The constellation Ursa Major, 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.

File:Hémisphère septentrional pour voir plus distinctoment les terres arctiques 11-c.130-1740.png

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 ("Ori.") for eastern and Occidental ("Occ.") for western.Hooke, Robert. 1666. Volume 1. Philosophical Transactions.

The linguistic usage in the 17th and 18th centuries was as an umbrella term. It described "the Germanic languages, usually with particular emphasis on Anglo-Saxon, Old Norse and Gothic."Kelsey Jackson Williams, Thomas Gray and the Goths: Philology, Poetry, and the Uses of the Norse Past in Eighteenth-Century England, The Review of English Studies New Series, Vol. 65, No. 271 (September 2014), pp. 694–710, at p. 698. Published by: Oxford University Press {{JSTOR|24541144}} Writing of Johann Georg Keyßler in 1758, Thomas Gray distinguished between "Celtic" and "septentrional" antiquities.{{cite book |last1=Gray |first1=Thomas |title=The Correspondence of Thomas Gray and William Mason: To which are Added Some Letters Addressed by Gray to the Rev. James Brown |date=1853 |publisher=R. Bentley |page=125 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z-QdAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA125 |language=en}} Thomas Percy actively criticised the blurring of the Celtic and the Germanic in the name of the "septentrional", while at the same time Ossianism favoured it.{{cite book |last1=Kidd |first1=Colin |title=British Identities before Nationalism: Ethnicity and Nationhood in the Atlantic World, 1600–1800 |date=1999 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-139-42572-8 |page=209 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I2EIlJISeUMC&pg=PA209 |language=en}} James Ingram in his inaugural lecture of 1807 called George Hickes "the first of septentrional scholars" for his pioneering lexicographical work on Anglo-Saxon.{{cite book |last1=Ingram |first1=James |title=An Inaugural Lecture on the Utility of Anglo-Saxon Literature |date=1807 |publisher=Cooke & Parker |page=29 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2FFMAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA29 |language=en}} In current usage, "septentrional fiction" may refer to a setting in the Canadian North.{{cite book |last1=Woodcock |first1=George |title=Colony and Confederation: Early Canadian Poets and Their Background |date=2011 |publisher=UBC Press |isbn=978-0-7748-4517-5 |page=214 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D9v6yWZwZ0cC&pg=PA214 |language=en}}

In France, the term septentrional refers to the Northern stretch of the Côtes du Rhône AOC winemaking region.[http://avis-vin.lefigaro.fr/connaitre-deguster/tout-savoir-sur-le-vin/guide-des-regions-et-des-appellations/vallee-du-rhone/nord-septentrional Nord Septentrional] The Northern Rhône, or septentrional, runs along the Rhône river from Vienne in the north, to Montélimar in the south. It includes the eight crus: Côte Rôtie, Condrieu, Château-Grillet, Hermitage, Saint-Joseph, Crozes-Hermitage, Cornas and Saint-Péray.[http://www.notretemps.com/cuisine/cotes-du-rhone-au-nord-huit-crus-celebres,i1518 Huit Crus Celebres] The Southern Rhône is referred to as the meridional (Rhône méridionale), and extends from Montélimar in the north, to Avignon in the south.

File:Ca. 1720 chart of the constellations of the Northern Hemisphere.jpg of the Septentrional Heavens, c. 1720]]

• Septentrionalist
• Oriental
• Occidental
• Boreal
• Austral
• Myotis septentrionalis, the Northern Long-eared Bat

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Category:Geography of the Arctic

Category:Orientation (geometry)