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Feb 16, 2022
This week’s theme
Mythological characters who have resulted in multiple eponyms

This week’s words
aphrodite
titanism
boreal
vulcanize
gorgonize

boreal
Boreas Abducting Oreithyia, c. 1615
Art: Peter Paul Rubens

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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

boreal

PRONUNCIATION:
(BOH-ree-uhl)

MEANING:
adjective: Northern; relating to the north, north wind, northern regions, etc.

ETYMOLOGY:
From Boreas, the god of the north wind in Greek mythology. Earliest documented use: 1470. The opposite is austral.

USAGE:
“‘Bruised Lands’ is a compendium of human violence against the natural landscape. From the boreal forests in Northern Alberta -- destroyed by the oil sands industry -- to lignite surface mining in Westphalia, Alan Gignoux photographs the raised welts and deep, enduring scars we’ve left on the Earth.”
Snapshot; Financial Times (London, UK); Oct 30, 2021.

See more usage examples of boreal in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
They know enough who know how to learn. -Henry Adams, historian and teacher (16 Feb 1838-1918)

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