Etymograph

English

austral

Austral comes from Latin australis ‘southern’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *h₂éwsteros ‘in the direction of dawn, east’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂éwsteros1‘in the direction of dawn, east’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*austeros1reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEauster1‘the south wind’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEaustralis1‘southern’
  5. Englishtodayaustral1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English austral

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂éwsterosWiktionary, English austral‘in the direction of dawn, east’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*austerosWiktionary, English australreconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEausterWiktionary, English austral‘the south wind’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEaustralisWiktionary, English austral‘southern’
  5. EnglishtodayaustralWiktionary, English austral

A compound of *h₂ews- ‘to become light’ + *h₂éwss

Proto-Indo-European *h₂ews- ‘to become light’

Proto-Indo-European *h₂éwss

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *h₂éwsteros ‘in the direction of dawn, east’

east, 7 more

Another origin of austral

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂ews-‘dawn’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂éwsteros‘in the direction of dawn, east’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*austerosreconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEauster‘south’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEaustralis‘southern’
  6. Old Spanishc. 950–1500austral
  7. Spanishc. 1500–presentaustral‘southern’
  8. Englishtodayaustral

Today it means

adj Of, relating to, or coming from the south.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “austral”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *h₂éwsteros / austral

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