BOREAS

I once wrote a high school poem concerning cruel Boreas after reading the name in my mythology class. I've never forgotten the word. It does have a great sound, no?

BOREAS

N, or NNE. wind. Boreas was one of the four winds, children of Eos (Aurora), goddess of the dawn by Titan Astraeus.

Boreas was characterized by rude violence and was dreaded as a ravisher of maidens. One of them, Orithyia, became by him the mother of Calais and Zetes, who figure in the story of the Argonauts.

The Athenians erected an altar to Boreas.

Cease, rude Boreas, blustering railer!

The Storm, G. A. Stevens (1719-84)



from Word Origins: The Romance of Language by Cecil Hunt