Auster

See also: auster

English

Auster

(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.
(poetic) The south wind, especially when personified.
Synonyms: auster, ostro
- c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act III, scene ii:
  Auster and Aquilon with winged Steeds
  All ſweating, tilt about the watery heauens,
  With ſhiuering ſpeares enforcing thunderclaps,
  And from their ſhields ſtrike flames of lightening
- 1989, Anthony Burgess, “Hun”, in The Devil's Mode:
  ‘My homeland too,’ Aetius grinned. ‘I was born under the Auster.’

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).

Auster f (genitive Auster, plural Austern)

Declension of Auster [feminine]