English

Proper noun

Auster

1. (Roman mythology) The god of the south wind.
   • 1714 June 10, [Alexander Pope], The Guardian, volume I, number 78, London: Printed for J[acob] Tonson, at Shakespear's-Head over-against Catherine-street in the Strand, page 332:

     For a Tempeſt. Take Eurus, Zephyr, Auſter and Boreas, and caſt them together in one Verſe. Add to theſe of Rain, Lightning, and of Thunder (the loudeſt you can) quantum ſufficit. Mix your Clouds and Billows well together till they foam, and thicken your Deſcription here and there with a Quickſand. Brew your Tempeſt well in your Head, before you ſet it a blowing.

2. (poetic) The south wind, especially when personified.
   • 1989, Anthony Burgess, “Hun”, in The Devil's Mode:

     ‘My homeland too,’ Aetius grinned. ‘I was born under the Auster.’

Hypernyms

• Anemoi, Aquilon

Coordinate terms

• Boreas/Septentrio (north), Notos/Auster (south), Eurus/Subsolanus (east), Zephyr/Zephyrus/Favonius (west)

Anagrams

• urates

German

Etymology

Attested a few times in Old High German, but only much later effectively introduced via Middle Low German ūster, from Middle Dutch oester. The Dutch word is borrowed from Latin ostrea, itself from Ancient Greek ὄστρεον ‎(óstreon) (pertaining to ὀστέον ‎(ostéon, “bone”), ὄστρακον ‎(óstrakon, “shell”)). Compare Old English ostre, Old French oistre (modern French huître).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈaʊ̯stɐ/

Noun

Auster f ‎(genitive Auster, plural Austern)

1. oyster

Declension

English

Noun

auster ‎(plural austers)

1. The south wind.

Synonyms

• southerly
• ostro

Antonyms

• boreas

Translations

References

• auster in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913

Anagrams

• urates

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈau̯s.ter/, [ˈau̯s.tɛr]

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *h₂ews- ‎(“dawn”). Cognate with Latin aurōra, English east.

Noun

auster m ‎(genitive austrī); second declension

1. The south wind

Inflection

Second declension, nominative singular in -er.

¹May also be austre.

Synonyms

• (south wind): merīdiēs

Antonyms

• (north wind): boreās, septentriō

Derived terms

• austrālis
• austrīnus

Descendants

• Aromanian: austru
• Italian: ostro
• Old French: ostre
• Romanian: austru

References

• auster in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• auster in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• auster in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers