Cardinal and Changeable

• 02 December 2022

3,222 words • Reading time: 14 minutes

82 ... ac uenti uelut agmine facto

qua data porta, ruunt et terras turbine perflant.

incubuere mari totumque a sedibus imis

una Eurusque Notusque ruunt creberque procellis

85 Africus, et uastos uoluunt ad litora fluctus.

(Vergil, Aeneid 1.82-85)

... and the winds, as if a column came about,

where passage was given, they rush down and blow through the lands in a storm.

They brooded over the sea and, together, from its lowest foundations,

Eurus and Notus and Africus, abundant in tempests, turn the whole sea up,

And roll along the vast waves towards the shores.

(Quick and dirty translation by me)

Prolegomena

I've had this post kicking around in my head for quite a while now, and am finally sitting down to write it. Ever since I started studying the classics, I've been fascinated by the winds and the sheer number of names for all of them. Imagine a weathervane on an old house, blown to and fro by the wind, and think of those four cardinal directions on there. Now think of a compass, where you not only have N, E, W, S (or whatever order you prefer), but NW, NE, SW, SE, and further split up into NNW, NNE, SSW, SSE. So you have the four quadrants, then eight, then we end up with 12. Lots of ways to carve up a circle, I guess: since we're dealing with 360 degrees, splitting it into 12 gives you 30 degrees for each, super granular compared to the 90 degrees for the traditional cardinal directions.

When we look at the ancients' conceptions of the winds, they get very, very granular at times. In the course of my research for this post (mostly based on what I remember of the Latin and Greek I've read, plus a deep dive into LSJ and Lewis & Short, courtesy of Perseus search), I found a ton of different names for the winds, some which I knew and a number which I'd never heard of before. Some of these I've come across in my Neo-Latin translation work (mostly 17th-century Latin), but others were very new to me, and of course it's always a joy to collect new words. Even just these words tell us a lot about how the Romans and Greeks viewed the world, and what they found important and unimportant. Certainly, terminology for winds was important as both peoples were seafaring (the Greeks moreso, of course, but the Romans held their own...), and knowing how to navigate using the winds (and often fighting against them) was critical.

One important thing that took me forever to learn is that the winds are named for the direction from which they blow, not the direction in which they blow. For example, the North wind comes down from the north, and doesn't blow north, and the West wind comes from the west, and doesn't blow towards the west. It took me way longer to realize that than I'd prefer, but oh well. But it makes sense when you think about the qualities of the various winds and the realms where they "live," or rather, whence they arise. So do keep that in mind, since I think it's worth remembering to help understand the different "personalities," if you will, of each of the winds.

The Vergil passage at the beginning here is a great exhibition of the awesome power of the winds: to be feared and respected by sailors, since they were at the winds' mercy, tossed about on the seas. And sailors, navigators, and people living on land alike needed a way to categorize these invisible currents of air, howsoever they influenced their lives. Given that the Romans and Greeks were polytheistic societies, why not see a god behind each of the winds? That way they can be placated and beseeched, prayed to and imprecated.

Please note that I'll use the following abbreviations; for classicists these are intelligible, but for others, they may be abstruse at best:

• LSJ: Short for Liddell-Scott-Jones, the three editors of A Greek-English Lexicon, one of the best Greek lexica out there IMHO. (Henry) Liddell is also famous for being the father of Alice Liddell, the inspiration for Alice in Wonderland.
• L&S: Short for Lewis & Short, the editors of a very easily-accessible Latin-English dictionary, A Latin Dictionary. I pretty much use this all the time since it's freely available and is really rather good. The Oxford Latin Dictionary and the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae ("Treasury of the Latin Language") are also quite nice, but not quite as accessible/available.

Now let's look at the winds associated with the cardinal directions, and then we'll drill down to some of the weirder, lesser-known ones.

Cardinal Winds

North: Of course we'll start with the North wind. I love the North myself. Why? Well, the North is often a cold and wintry place, full of snow and ice. Hence, the wind blowing from the North is cold, icy, and chilling, bringing with it elements of the weather from which it arises. The North wind is pretty great and I'm happy that it brings its ice and cold with it for us to enjoy. For the Greeks and Romans, the North wind would have been coming from the cold, vast expanses of Scythia, as well as Hyperborea further north, inter alia. There actually aren't as many words for the North wind as I thought there would be, which is a little surprising, but here goes:

• Boreas, -ae, m., Boreas (cf. boreal, Hyperborea, aurora borealis, &c.): the god of the North wind.
  • Equivalent to Greek Βoρέας, -ου, ὁ (Boreas, -ou, ho) & Βορρᾶς, -οῦ, ὁ (Borras, -ou, ho)
• Aquilo, -onis, m., explained by L&S as perh. deriving from aqua, "water" or aquilus, -a, -um, "dark-colored"
• Septentrio, -onis, m., (usu. in pl. Septentriones, -um, lit. "the seven stars near the North Pole")
• aparctias, -ae, m., lit. "from the north"
  • From Greek ἀπαρκτίας, -ου, ὁ (aparktias, -ou, ho)
  • Cf. ἄρκτος, -ου, ὁ (arktos, -ou, ho) "the North" (lit. "bear," since the constellation Ursa Major ("the big bear") was in the North)

Some more thoughts on the North wind. Again, it's icy and cold, bringing polar chill wherever it goes, and for me, at least, always evokes wintry wastes, yawning under the indifference of even icier stars.

South: Variously described as "hot" (L&S calls it a "burning" wind), but also "wet and heavy," according to Aristotle, this is an interesting one. For the Greeks and Romans, this wind was coming from Africa and arid, desert regions, so it makes sense that it would be hot, but at the same time, there was an ocean between them and Africa, so it would also be a cooling, wet, calming wind. Contradictory, this one, I guess!

• Notus, -i, m., Notus
  • Equivalent to Greek Νότος, -ου, ὁ (Notos, -ou, ho)
• Auster, -tri, m., Auster (per L&S, from a root meaning "burning"). I am tempted to connect this with Greek αὐστηρός, -ή, -όν (austeros, -e, on), "harsh, rough, bitter," but I do not believe they are related. I couldn't find a direct Greek cognate for this name.
• austellus, -i, m., "a gentle south wind" (properly the diminutive of auster, "a little south wind")
• λευκόνοτος, -ου, ὁ (leukonotos, -ou, ho), "the south wind which cleared the weather," lit. "the bright/white Notos/south wind"
  • I just love the idea of this, a wind coming through and clearing/brightening things up!

So the South wind either brings heat or moisture, or both; think of it as bringing the tropics your way.

West: Most of you probably know the word "zephyr" and related terms. Well, it comes right from the name for the West wind! There are some other interesting names that I hadn't expected, though, so here we go. I don't really know anything specific about the West wind itself, other than that Aristotle calls it "cold" (ψυχρός, psukhros).

• Zephyrus, -i, m., "Zephyr, the west wind"
  • Equivalent to Greek Ζέφυρος, -ου, ὁ (Zephuros, -ou, ho), and also Ζεφυρίη [πνοή], -ης, ἡ (Zephurie [pnoe], -es, he), lit. "the breath of Zephyr")
• Favonius, -i, m., "Favonius, the west wind," a wind "which blew at the commencement of spring, and promoted vegetation" (L&S). This name comes, apparently, from Latin favere, meaning "to be favorable [to], favor." So it is the "favorable" wind.
• Hippalus, -i, m., another name for Favonius, but specifically referring to a west wind blowing over the Indian Ocean.

The West wind is an interesting one. It seems to bring good, favorable, regenerative things, energizing everything in its path. At the same time, it comes from where the sun sets, so I'm not sure how that figures in; I am wondering if it has some chthonic connections, not sure.

East: I don't know a ton about the East wind really either, but there sure are a lot of names for it, compared to the others.

• Eurus, -i, m., "the east wind, Eurus." I'm tempted to relate this to Europe but I think that would be a folk etymology (Εὐρώπη, Europe, "Europa," the name of a famous mythological woman).
  • Equivalent to Greek Εὖρος, -ου, ὁ (Euros, -ou, ho)
• apeliotes, -ae, m., "the east wind" (lit. "from the Sun," see below)
  • Equivalent to Greek ἀπηλιώτης, -ου, ὁ (apeliotes, -ou, ho) or ἀφηλιώτης, -ου, ὁ (apheliotes, -ou, ho), from ἀπο- apo- "away from" + ἥλιος helios, "Helios, Sun"
• subsolanus [ventus], -i, "the east wind" (lit. "lying beneath the sun")
• eurinus [ventus], -i, "an east wind"
  • Equivalent to Greek εὔρινος (eurinos), which seems to mean lit. "with a good nose" (εὖ eu- "good" + ῥίς rhis "nose")
• Solanus [ventus], -i, "the east wind" (lit. "[the wind] of the Sun", as far as I can tell)
• Now we get some more localized east winds:
  • καταπορθμίας, -ου, ὁ (kataporthmias, -ou, ho), "an east wind blowing down the straits of Messina"
  • ποταμεύς, -έως, ὁ (potameus, -eos, ho), "the east wind at Tripolis"

So the East wind arises from where the sun rises. I don't know a ton more about it, but it is definitely associated with the Sun fairly often, especially in the names.

More granular winds

So we've covered the cardinal winds, of which there are many different forms, but now here it gets weirder and weirder as we split up the circle of the winds into smaller and smaller chunks. I'm guessing none of you have probably ever heard these words before, if you've even heard of the ones above (except for Zephyr).

• East-northeast: The only one I could find was Carbas, -ae, m., in Latin. Apparently it's mentioned in Vitruvius (1.6.10), and in the same passage he talks about a lot of other winds. I've never read Vitruvius before, but his work seems interesting.
• Northeast: there were a bunch of names for this wind, all each slightly different
  • βορραπηλιώτης, -ου, ὁ (borrapeliotes, -ou, ho), "north-east wind" (βορρᾶς [borras], "north wind" + ἥλιος [helios], "Helios, the Sun" [since the Sun rises in the East])
    • See apheliotes above too
  • καικίας, -ου, ὁ (kaikias, -ou, ho), "north-east wind" (per LSJ this is derived from the river Caicus in Asia Minor)
    • The Latin equivalent is caecias, -ae, m.
  • θηβάνας, -ου, ὁ (thebanas, -ou, ho), "the north-east wind" (a Lesbian name for the wind); a variant is θήβανις (thebanis). Per LSJ this is because it blew from Thebes.
  • euroaquilo, -onis, m., "the northeast wind" (compound of Eurus + Aquilo, easy enough!)
• North-northeast: there were a number of names for this wind!
  • Στρυμονίας, -ου, ὁ (Strumonias, -ou, ho), "a wind blowing from the Strymon." The Strymon is a river in Macedonia, very close to Thrace, so that would make sense that the wind came from the north-northeast of Greece and Rome.
  • meses, -ae, m., "the north-northeast wind, between boreas and caecias" (L&S)
    • Equivalent to Greek μέσης, -ου, ὁ (meses, -ou, ho), "a wind between ἀπαρκτίας (aparktias) and καικίας (kaikias)."
  • prodromus, -i, m., "a certain north-northeast wind that blows eight days before the rising of the dog-star"
    • Equivalent to Greek πρόδρομος, -ου, ὁ (prodromos, -ou, ho), "northerly winds, preceding the etesian winds" (lit. "precursor," from πρό (pro) "before" + δρόμος (dromos), "course, race")
  • supernas, -atis [ventus], m., "northeast-by-north wind" (related to the Latin adj. supernus, "from above")
• Northwest: Only a couple of these:
  • βορρόλιψ, -λιβος, ὁ (borrolips, -libos, ho), "north-west wind" (βορέας [boreas] "north wind" + λιψ [lips] "the southwest wind")
  • χῶρος, -ου, ὁ (khoros, -ou, ho), "north-west wind"
    • Equivalent to Latin Caurus/Corus, -i, m.
• North-Northwest: θρασκίας, -ου, ὁ (thraskias, -ou, ho), "the wind from NNW" (variants include θρᾳκίας [thraikias] and θρακίας [thrakias]); this wind seems like it refers to Thrace as well.
  • Equivalent to Latin Thrascias, -ae, m., "the north-by-a-third-northwest wind." (Look how granular this is, it's wild!)
• West-Northwest: Quite a few of these, surprisingly
  • Ὀλυμπίας [ἄνεμος], -ου, ὁ (Olumpias [anemos], -ou, ho), "The WNW wind"
    • Equivalent to Latin Olympias, -ae, m.
  • Ἀργέστης, -ου, ὁ (Argestes, -ou, ho), means the same, but literally means "clearing, brightening" (from ἀργός, -ή, -όν [argos, -e, -on], "shining, glistening")
  • Ἰᾶπυξ, -υγις, ὁ (Iapux, -ugis, ho), means the same, but literally in pl. refers to the Iapygians, a people of Southern Italy (so from Greece, WNW would make sense).
  • circius, -i, m., "a violent wind blowing in Gallia Narbonensis; to the Romans, a west-northwest wind" (L&S)
• Southwest: A number of these too
  • λίψ, λιβός, ὁ (lips, libos, ho), "the SW wind"
    • Equivalent to Latin Libs (Lips), Libis/Lipis, adj., which actually refers to the west-southwest wind (lit. "Libyan")
  • subvespertinus [ventus], -i, m., "the southwest wind" (lit. "the wind under the evening," cf. vesper, "evening; west")
  • Africus [ventus], -i, "the south-west wind," described as "between Auster and Favonius"
• South-Southwest: Quite a few of these as well!
  • λιβόνοτος, -ου, ὁ (libonotos, -ou, ho), "a wind between south-west and south"
    • Equivalent to Latin Libonotos, -i, m.
  • Austroafricus [ventus], -i, m., "the south-southwest wind" (Auster + Africus)
  • altanus, -i, m., "a south-southwest wind, between the Africus and Libonotus" (L&S)
• Southwest-by-west: subvesperus [ventus], -i, m. (cf. subvespertinus above)
• West-Southwest:
  • argestes, -ae, m. (per Vitruvius); Pliny the Elder thinks it's a WNW wind like the Greek (see above)
  • See above on Libs
• South-Southeast: A couple of these
  • εὐρόνοτος, -ου, ὁ (euronotus, -ou, ho), "a wind between Εὖρος and Νότος, SSE" (LSJ)
    • Equivalent to Latin euronotus, -i, m., "the south-southeast wind, that which is between eurus and notus" (L&S)
  • Vultur (ventus), -i, m., "a southeast-by-one-third-south wind" (L&S); cf. Vulturnus [ventus] which is essentially the same)

As you can see, there are a lot of winds more granular than the cardinal ones, and a ton of different names for the same ones. Even the ancients don't always agree on which is which, sometimes assigning different winds to different homes! Fascinating stuff.

Others without (very) specific directions

• παλιμβορέας, -ου, ὁ (palimboreas, -ou, ho), "a wind counter to the prevalent north wind" (LSJ) (πάλιν [palin], "backwards, back" + βορέας [boreas], "the north wind")
• Καυνίας, -ου, ὁ (Kaunias, -ou, ho), "a wind blowing from Caunus [towards Rhodes]" (LSJ)
• Ὀγχησμίτης, -ου, ὁ (Onkhesmites, -ou, ho), "wind from Onchesmus" (LSJ). Onchesmus is a harbor in Epirus in northwestern Greece.
  • Equivalent to Latin Onchesmites, -ae, m. (used by Cicero)
• συκοφαντίας [ἄνεμος], -ου, ὁ (sukophantias [anemos], -ou, ho), "the sycophant-wind."
  • I do not think this refers to an actual wind, but is used in a comic sense, likely referring to sycophants being full of wind and all talk? See Aristophanes Knights 437, apparently.
• χελιδονίας, -ου, ὁ (khelidonias, -ou, ho), "the spring wind, because the swallows come with it" (LSJ) (from χελιδών, -όνος, ὁ [khelidon, -onos, ho], "swallow")
  • Equivalent to Latin chelidonias, -ae, m.
• encolpiae, -arum, m. pl., "winds that arise in a bay" (L&S)
  • Equivalent to Greek ἐγκολπίας ἄνεμος, -ου, ὁ (encolpias anemos, -ou, ho), "a local wind blowing from a bay" (LSJ) (from κόλπος [kolpos], "bay")
• etesiae, -arum, m. pl., "etesian winds, trade-winds" (L&S)
  • Equivalent to Greek ἐτησίαι [ἄνεμοι], -ῶν, οἱ (etesiai [anemoi], -on, hoi), "trade-winds" (LSJ)
• exhydriae, -arum, m. pl., "winds accompanied by rain" (L&S)
  • Equivalent to Greek ἐξυδρίας ἄνεμος, -ου, ὁ (exudrias anemos, -ou, ho), "rainy wind" (LSJ)
• Medullinus notus, -i, m., "Alpine wind" (L&S explains that the Medulli are a people in Sabaudia, which is apparently in central Italy)
• ornithias, -ae, m., "the bird-wind, a wind that blows in spring and brings with it the birds of passage" (L&S)
  • Equivalent to ὀρνιθίας (ἄνεμος), -ου, ὁ (ornithias [anemos], -ou, ho), often in pl., "annual winds in spring, which brought the birds of passage" (LSJ) (from ὄρνις [ornis], "bird") (cf. chelidonias above)
• suppraefecti [venti], -orum, m. pl., "subsidiary winds" (sub- "under" + praefecti, "prefect, commander, director, president," from praeficere "to set over")

Epilegomena

I'm a little floored at how many different winds there are, especially some of the weird ones at the end that don't really belong elsewhere. These are all the ones I could find in my Greek and Latin dictionaries, but who knows, there may be more than I didn't catch. In some ways this just ended up being a big list rather than the exegesis I had planned on, but that's OK. It's quite a list and fun to just delve into that. And there are more places to explore the ancients' thoughts on these winds. Aristotle (or pseudo-Aristotle?) wrote a treatise De ventorum situ et nominibus ("On the position and names of the winds"); the Greek title is ἀνέμων θέσεις καὶ προσηγορίαι (anemon theseis kai prosegoriai), "Positions and Names of the Winds." His student Theophrastus also wrote a De ventis ("On the Winds"); the Greek title is περὶ ἀνέμων (peri anemon), "On the Winds." I think both would be really cool to read, so I'll have to check them out sometime. The Vitruvian passages on the winds I mentioned in passing above (De architectura [On Architecture] 1.6.10) may also be worth checking out for a Roman point of view.

All in all I just find all of this fascinating and just really, really cool. I hope you think it's interesting too and I would love to hear your thoughts. I don't have comments enabled on my blog; it's kind of a pain to do and involves HTML, and I don't really want to mix HTML and Markdown, so I haven't sorted that out. But feel free to reach out on Mastodon with thoughts.

Thanks for reading, friends, and take care of yourselves!

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