Meridionals

Part of speech: noun, adjective

Definitions

1. Pertaining to or located in a southern direction or region
2. relating to climates, phenomena, or events typically found in southern latitudes
3. describing patterns or movements that are oriented toward or influenced by the south

Etymology: "Meridionals" is the plural of "meridional," which describes things relating to the south, especially southern Europe or, in astronomy and navigation, the southern direction. The adjective came into English by way of Middle French "meridional," itself taken from Latin "merīdiōnālis," a word built on "merīdiēs," which meant "midday" and, by extension, "south." The link between noon and south is not arbitrary: at midday the sun stands at its highest point in the sky, which in the Northern Hemisphere lies due south of the observer. That ancient connection explains why a word about the afternoon sun came to mean a direction. Latin "merīdiēs" was itself formed from "medius" ("middle") and "dies" ("day"), so the sense of midday as the middle of the day sits at the root. In the Latin world, the sun at its height was the moment when the whole sky seemed to pivot, and the southern quarter was the direction it occupied.

Synonyms: southerners, southern people, southerners

Antonyms: northerners, northerns