Hesper

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Referring to the western direction or the evening star often associated with the setting sun in ancient mythology and geography
2. Pertaining to the mythological figure symbolizing the evening or the lands lying to the west, especially in classical contexts
3. Relating to the concept of dusk, twilight, or the western horizon as represented in historical or literary works derived from ancient traditions

Etymology: In Greek, "Hesperos" was simply the evening star, the bright planet we now call Venus when it shines after sunset. The Greeks eventually realized that this evening star and the morning star, "Phosphoros," were one and the same body. Greek myth gave the evening star a family: Hesperus was the father of the Hesperides, nymphs who guarded the golden apples at the western edge of the world, and "Hesperia" became a Greek and Latin name for lands to the west, Italy from Greece and Spain from Rome. The Greek word shares a root with Latin "vesper," evening, which survives in English "vespers," the evening prayer service. Both come from an ancient Indo-European root for evening, so the sense of the word has stayed close to its origin. In English, "Hesper" and "Hesperus" have mostly been poetic names for the evening star. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's 1842 poem "The Wreck of the Hesperus" made the name familiar, though there the word names a ship, not a star.

Synonyms: evening star, west, sunset

Antonyms: morning star, east, sunrise