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 or geography. Etymology The word ''north ...

", is a

Latinate Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the 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 the power of the ...

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 ...

. 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, ...

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 c ...

'' 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 ...

("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 othe ...

. 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 studi ...

in 1758,

Thomas Gray Thomas Gray (26 December 1716 – 30 July 1771) was an English poet, letter-writer, classical scholar, and professor at Pembroke College, Cambridge. He is widely known for his '' Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard,'' published in 1751. G ...

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 favoured it. James Ingram in his inaugural lecture of 1807 called George Hickes "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 regi ...

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 ...

, 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 commune in the département of Ardèche in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in southern France. The name is Celtic for "burnt land." Population Economy The region is famous for wine, which is designated Cornas AOC. See also *C ...

and Saint-Péray.Huit Crus Celebres
/ref> The Southern Rhône is referred to as the meridional (''Rhône méridionale''), and extends from

Montélimar Montélimar (; Vivaro-Alpine: ''Montelaimar'' ; la, Acumum) is a town in the Drôme department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in north Provence, Southeastern France. It is the second-largest city in the department after Valence. In 2018 ...

in the north, to

Avignon Avignon (, ; ; oc, Avinhon, label= Provençal or , ; la, Avenio) is the prefecture of the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of Southeastern France. Located on the left bank of the river Rhône, the commune had ...

in the south.

Notes

References

{{Reflist Geography of the Arctic Orientation (geometry)