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Septentrional is a word that means "of the north
North

North is one of the four cardinal directions, specifically the direction that, in Western culture, is treated as the fundamental direction:...
", rarely used in English
English language

English is a West Germanic language that originated in Anglo-Saxon England and has lingua franca status in many parts of the world as a result of the military, economic, scientific, political and cultural influence of the British Empire in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries and that of the United States from the mid 20th century onwa...
 but commonly used in Latin and in the Romance languages
Romance languages

The Romance languages are a branch of the Indo-European languages comprising all the languages that descend from Latin language, the language of ancient Rome....
. Early maps of North America, mostly those before 1700, often refer to the northern- or northwestern-most unexplored areas of the continent at "Septentrional" or "America Septentrionalis", sometimes with slightly alternate spellings. The term septentrional, actually the adjectival form of the noun septentrion, itself refers to the seven stars of the Big Dipper
Big Dipper

The seven brightest stars of the constellation Ursa Major, the Great Bear, form a well-known asterism that has been recognized as a distinct grouping in many cultures from time immemorial....
 asterism
Asterism (astronomy)

In astronomy, an asterism is a pattern of stars seen in Earth's sky which is not an official constellation. Like constellations, they are composed of stars which, while they are in the same general direction, are not physically related, often being at significantly different distances from Earth....
 (aka "Septentrion").

The OED gives the etymology as
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Septentrional is a word that means "of the north
North

North is one of the four cardinal directions, specifically the direction that, in Western culture, is treated as the fundamental direction:...
", rarely used in English
English language

English is a West Germanic language that originated in Anglo-Saxon England and has lingua franca status in many parts of the world as a result of the military, economic, scientific, political and cultural influence of the British Empire in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries and that of the United States from the mid 20th century onwa...
 but commonly used in Latin and in the Romance languages
Romance languages

The Romance languages are a branch of the Indo-European languages comprising all the languages that descend from Latin language, the language of ancient Rome....
. Early maps of North America, mostly those before 1700, often refer to the northern- or northwestern-most unexplored areas of the continent at "Septentrional" or "America Septentrionalis", sometimes with slightly alternate spellings. The term septentrional, actually the adjectival form of the noun septentrion, itself refers to the seven stars of the Big Dipper
Big Dipper

The seven brightest stars of the constellation Ursa Major, the Great Bear, form a well-known asterism that has been recognized as a distinct grouping in many cultures from time immemorial....
 asterism
Asterism (astronomy)

In astronomy, an asterism is a pattern of stars seen in Earth's sky which is not an official constellation. Like constellations, they are composed of stars which, while they are in the same general direction, are not physically related, often being at significantly different distances from Earth....
 (aka "Septentrion").

The OED gives the etymology as
[ad. L. septentrio, sing. of septentriones, orig. septem triones, the seven stars of the constellation of the Great Bear, f. septem seven + triones, pl. of trio plough-ox. Cf. F. septentrion.]


"Septentrional" is a more or less interchangeable term with "boreal." Ursa Major
Ursa Major

Ursa Major is a constellation visible throughout the year in most of the northern hemisphere. Its name means the Great Bear in Latin. It is dominated by the widely recognized asterism known as the Big Dipper or Plough, which is a useful pointer toward north, and which has mythological significance in numerous world cultures....
, the constellation containing the Big Dipper or Plough, dominates the skies of the North. There doesn't appear to be a truly comparable term linking the regions of the South with some prominent feature of the Southern Sky. The usual antonym for "septentrional" is "meridional." This word, however, doesn't refer to a celestial feature in the South, but to the noonday sun.

"Septentrional" is one of the rare (in English) words which turned up in James Joyce
James Joyce

James Augustine Aloysius Joyce was an Ireland expatriate author of the 20th century. He is best known for his landmark novel Ulysses and its controversial successor Finnegans Wake , as well as the short story collection Dubliners and the semi-autobiographical novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man ....
's Ulysses
Ulysses (novel)

Ulysses is a novel by James Joyce, first serialized in parts in the American journal The Little Review from March 1918 to December 1920, then published in its entirety by Sylvia Beach on February 2, 1922, in Paris....
, to titillate the verbophiles of the Literary World.

Gene Wolfe
Gene Wolfe

Gene Wolfe is an United States science fiction and fantasy writer. He is noted for his dense, allusive prose as well as the strong influence of his Catholic faith, to which he converted after marrying a Catholic....
 used the word in The Book of the New Sun
The Book of the New Sun

The Book of the New Sun is a novel in four parts written by science fiction and fantasy author Gene Wolfe. It chronicles the journey and ascent to power of Severian, a disgraced journeyman torturer who rises to the position of Autarch, the one ruler of the free world....
 as part of the name of a palace guard.

Voltaire
Voltaire

Fran?ois-Marie Arouet , better known by the pen name Voltaire, was a French Age of Enlightenment writer, essayist, and philosophy known for his wit, philosophical sport, and defense of civil liberty, including freedom of religion and free trade....
 used this word in Candide
Candide

Candide, ou l'Optimisme is a ian the Age of Enlightenment philosopher Voltaire, English translations of which have been titled Candide: Or, All for the Best ; Candide: Or, The Optimist ; and Candide: Or, Optimism ....
 (chapter 11). He used the plural form septentrionaux. It only appears in the French version. In the English version, the word is translated to "northern".

The term, sometimes abbreviated to "Sep.", was used in historical astronomy to indicate the northern direction on the celestial globe, together with Meridional ("Mer.") for southern, Oriental
Oriental

Oriental means generally "eastern". It is a traditional designation for anything belonging to the Eastern world or "East" , and especially of its Eastern culture to include the peoples....
 ("Ori.") for eastern and Occidental
Occidental

Occidental means generally "western". It is a traditional designation for anything belonging to the Western world or "West" , and especially of its Western culture....
 ("Occ.") for western.

See also

  • Boreal
    Boreal

    Boreal may refer to*Northern, from Boreas, god of the North Wind in Greek mythology*Boreal climate, the climate found in a region of boreal forests, and designated Dfc, Dwc or Dsc in the K?ppen climate classification scheme....
     ("Northern")
  • meridional or austral
    Austral

    Austral may refer to:*Austral Islands, the southernmost group of islands in French Polynesia*Austral language, the language of the Austral Islands...
     ("Southern")
  • occidental
    Occidental

    Occidental means generally "western". It is a traditional designation for anything belonging to the Western world or "West" , and especially of its Western culture....
     ("Western")
  • oriental
    Oriental

    Oriental means generally "eastern". It is a traditional designation for anything belonging to the Eastern world or "East" , and especially of its Eastern culture to include the peoples....
     ("Eastern")
  • Septentrionalist