Oriental, Occidental, and...?
We've all heard of the term "oriental" as an adjective in reference to from, or related to, "the east", most typically meaning east Asia. A joke in the dadjokes sub mentioned the word "Occidental", referring to of, or from, the west, typically meaning Europe and the Americas.
I wanted to know if there were comparable terms to refer to "the north" and "the south" (that weren't Arctic and Antarctic). There are.
The term "septentrional" means "of or from the north" and comes to us from Latin. The \*septen\* part refers to the seven stars of the constellation Ursa Major, one of its many nicknames being "the plough", which brings us the next part of the word from latin triones, meaning "plough oxen". (Many English speakers will know the word "plough" as "plow", which may bring its own squabbles).
For "of or from the south", the term "meridional" is derived from the Latin term meridiem meaning "midday"(the same term from which AM and PM are derived) as the sun would be in the southern portion of the sky at midday in the northern hemisphere. The term seems to have been most commonly used in reference to southern Europe.
(I posted the above text in r/words and received plenty of replies including Boreal and Austral, which are also cool words.)
https://redd.it/1wph3sq
@r_etymology
Post #12810
2