prettygoodword: text: words are sexy (Default)
prettygoodword ([personal profile] prettygoodword) wrote2025-03-10 07:13 am

vernal

Theme week! -- seasonal adjectives, starting with:


vernal (VUR-nl) - adj., related to or occurring in spring; having characteristics like spring, such as fresh, young, youthful.


This is rare outside of technical contexts, such as the upcoming vernal equinox, but I still see it sometimes in that extended metaphorical use. Taken around 1530 from Latin vērnālis, pertaining to spring, from vēr, season of spring (ultimately from PIE root *wósr̥/*wesr̥, spring (and how's that for a diacritic on that r̥?)) + a pertaining-to adjectival suffix. And to console those of you who just observed the North American vernal time-shift, here's some vernal sakura to gaze upon:

sherry blossoms in spring, in Kamakura
Thanks, WikiMedia!

---L.
full_metal_ox: A gold Chinese Metal Ox zodiac charm. (Default)

Another archetypally vernal image.

[personal profile] full_metal_ox 2025-03-10 06:21 pm (UTC)(link)


(Image description: GIF of a small fluffy white lamb on a green grassy hill in full daylight, pawing insistently at a reclining human in a brown sweater, mostly out of frame save for his right arm; the human reaches over and pets the lamb’s head. Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s50vvwTystA)