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brumal & hiemal & hibernal
Mar. 14th, 2025 07:35 ambrumal (BROO-muhl) - adj., related to or occurring in winter.
hiemal (HAI-uh-muhl) - (rare) adj., related to or occurring in winter.
hibernal (hai-BUR-nl) - adj., related to or occurring in winter.
Yup, it's three-for, as there are surprisingly many words for wintery. (Two are repeats here, so I don't feel too badly about stacking these up.) I'm also surprised to learn that hiemal is three syllables, not two. Brumal's been around since around 1510, taken from Latin brūmālis, of or pertaining to the winter solstice or winter, from brūma, winter/winter solstice, contraction of brevima diēs, shortest day, using an archaic superlative of brevis, short. Hiemal has been around since the 1550s, from Latin hiemālis, from hiems, winter. Hibernal has been around since the 1620s, from Latin hībernālis, from hībernus, wintry, also (with a sound shift) from hiems, winter, which also gave us the much more common hibernate, to sleep through the winter.
And that wraps up a week of seasonal adjectives ending in -al -- back next week with the usual mix.
---L.
hiemal (HAI-uh-muhl) - (rare) adj., related to or occurring in winter.
hibernal (hai-BUR-nl) - adj., related to or occurring in winter.
Yup, it's three-for, as there are surprisingly many words for wintery. (Two are repeats here, so I don't feel too badly about stacking these up.) I'm also surprised to learn that hiemal is three syllables, not two. Brumal's been around since around 1510, taken from Latin brūmālis, of or pertaining to the winter solstice or winter, from brūma, winter/winter solstice, contraction of brevima diēs, shortest day, using an archaic superlative of brevis, short. Hiemal has been around since the 1550s, from Latin hiemālis, from hiems, winter. Hibernal has been around since the 1620s, from Latin hībernālis, from hībernus, wintry, also (with a sound shift) from hiems, winter, which also gave us the much more common hibernate, to sleep through the winter.
And that wraps up a week of seasonal adjectives ending in -al -- back next week with the usual mix.
---L.
