Westerne

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Relating to or located in the western region of an area ; a story or movie set in the rugged American frontier of the 1800s
2. Lying toward or originating from the west ; a cowboy-style film or book portraying the historic American frontier
3. Of or belonging to the west direction or region ; a genre of fiction or cinema depicting frontier life in the American West

Etymology: "Westerne" is an older spelling of "western," with the final -e that many Middle and Early Modern English adjectives carried. It is built from "west" and the suffix "-erne," which English used to make adjectives of direction. The same suffix gives us "northern," "southern," and "eastern," and it appears in Old English words such as "norþerne." The root "west" is probably linked to the Latin "vesper" ("evening") and the Greek "hesperos" ("evening star"). The shared idea is likely the setting sun, so the direction was named after the evening. This connection is widely accepted but rests on reconstructed ancient roots rather than direct records.