Eurus

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A directional wind associated with the east or southeast in classical meteorological studies, often represented as a deity in mythology from the ancient Greek and Roman traditions
2. An east or southeast wind described in ancient meteorological texts, frequently embodied as a divine figure in Greco-Roman mythology
3. A wind originating from the east or southeast often depicted as a god in ancient Greek and Roman legends

Etymology: The east wind has a name in Greek mythology, and the English word is a direct inheritance of it. In ancient Greek, "eûros" was the name of the wind blowing from the east, and it was also personified as a god, one of the four winds that Greek myth assigned to the compass points. The Romans borrowed the word as "eurus" for the same wind, and it was later taken into Middle English, where it appeared as "Eurus" and "ewrus," meaning the east wind. The word is a learned borrowing that has stayed close to its original form, so its meaning has barely shifted over more than two thousand years. Its English life has been mostly poetic and classical, used by writers reaching for the ancient vocabulary of the winds rather than for everyday weather talk.