zeph·yr(us) | /ˈze-fər(əs)/
A zephyr is a light breeze. A shortened form of Zephyrus, the Greek god of the westerly wind, it was adopted into English in the 16th century. In modern times, it’s also the name of an exceptionally unreliable Ford my parents owned in the 1970s and the sobriquet for a type of lightweight cotton fabric.
Zephyrus was one of the four major wind deities known as the Anemoi, each of which represented a cardinal point. He was the gentlest of the Anemoi – a beautiful youth associated with the blessings of springtime. His Roman equivalent was Favonius, meaning favourable, who also ruled over plants and flowers. As is typical of the Greek gods, Zephyrus was not entirely benign – he was capable of vindictive jealously and rumoured to have killed Apollo’s lover Hyacinth. Boreas was the fierce god of the north winds – associated with winter, he was strong and foul tempered. Eurus ruled the easterlies – associated with autumn, he brought both oppressive warmth and thunderstorms. Notus ruled the southerlies and was related to summer – blowing hot and dry in midsummer and becoming increasingly stormy as the season progressed. His Roman equivalent was Auster, associated with the sirocco that blasts north from the Sahara.
The sirocco is one of the many named winds generated by the Mediterranean’s complex topography. The mistral is a powerful, cold north-westerly that blows into the Gulf of Lion from France. The bora is another strong, chilly wind, blowing down from the mountains into the north-east Adriatic. The levant is an easterly wind that causes large swells in the Strait of Gibraltar. The wendavel is a westerly wind that affects the same region.
The intercardinal winds also had their lesser Anemoi. Kaikias ruled the north-east wind, Apeliotes the south-east, Skiron the north-west, and Lips the south-west. All the Anemoi were ruled over by Aeolus, from where we get the term aeolian for all things wind-related.
Introduction Aeolian Alpenglow
Benthos Crepuscular Crispate Crown shyness
Desire lines Dreich Endragoned Edgelands
Frondescence Fumarole Gluggaveður Gossamer
Karst Komorebi Lawrence Long acre
Machair Monkey’s wedding Moonglade
Psithurism Quartz Rakuyou Roaring forties
Snag Soft estate Specular, diffuse and pellucid
Spoondrift Steam fog Swash zone Sylvan
Tellurian and thalassic Terracettes Uliginous