15.04.24: weather; vocabulary [2]

3rd declension nouns describing weather

tempestās, tempestātis [3/f] has numerous meanings, and so, when reading, you need to check the context.

[i] period of / point of time; not clock time

illā tempestāte: at that point in time / in that period of time

[ii] storm; tempest

Turbida* tempestās heri fuit, nīl habeō, adulēscēns, piscium (Plautus) ¦ There was a rough storm yesterday, I have no fish, young man

*turbidus, -a, -um: wild; stormy

[iii] weather (good or bad)

tempestās serēna: clear / fair weather

tempestās turbulenta: rough; stormy weather

tempestās can also be used as an alternative way of asking about the weather:

Quālis tempestās est? What’s the weather like?

Derivatives:

tempestās > ME: tempest; a tempestuous relationship

sōl > ME: solar

turbō > ME: turbine

Some derivatives are not so common, but they still exist:

fulgur > ME: fulgurant i.e. resembling a lightning flash

nūbēs > ME: nubilous i.e. cloudy; misty; unclear

nix, nivis > ME: niveous i.e. snowy; resembling snow

Some examples from the authors:

venit ignāvia, ea míhi tempestās fuit, mī adventū suō grandinem imbremque attulit (Plautus) ¦ Idleness came on; that was my storm; on its arrival, upon me it brought down hail and showers,

fulmina postrēmō nix imbrēs nūbila* ventī / nōn nimis incertīs fīunt in partibus annī (Lucretius) ¦ Moreover, lightning, snow, rain, clouds, winds—these occur at times of year which we can surely more or less predict.

*nūbilum [2/n]: cloud; mainly in the plural nūbila

et quantum longīs carpent armenta diēbus / exigua tantum gelidus* rōs nocte repōnet. (Virgil) ¦ and whatever the herds crop in the long days, / the cool dew will replace at night.

*gelidus, -a, -um: ice-cold; frosty; chilling