cimmerian

Etymology

Definitions

1. 1

   Perpetually dark or gloomy.

   • There, under ebon shades... in dark Cimmerian desert ever dwell.
   • As ragged as thy locks, In dark Cimmerian desert ever dwell.
   • ...the darkness of antiquated barbarism, in which he buries himself like a mole, to throw up the barren hillocks of his Cimmerian labours.
2. 2

   Mentally dark

   Mentally dark; ignorant; benighted.

   • The source of man’s unhappiness is his ignorance of Nature.... To remove this Cimmerian darkness... requires the clue of Ariadne.
3. 3

   Any of the mythical people supposed to inhabit a land of perpetual darkness.

   • The city, there, of the Cimmerians stands With clouds and darkness veil’d, on whom the sun Deigns not to look with his beam-darting eye,
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   1. 4

      One of the Cimmerii, ancient equestrian nomads of Indo-European origin.

      • Believe me, queen, your swarth Cimmerian Doth make your honour of his body's hue, Spotted, detested, and abominable.
      • The Phrygian power was broken in the 9th or 8th century B.C. by the Cimmerians, who entered Asia Minor through Armenia
      • 1910, Herodotus (484 B.C.E.–425 B.C.E.), History of Herodotus, translated by George Rawlinson In his reign the Cimmerians, driven from their homes by the nomads of Scythia, entered Asia and captured Sardis
   2. 5

      The prophetic priestess presiding over the Apollonian Oracle at Cimmerium in Italy.

      • 1867 to 1885, Lactantius (240–320 C.E.), Ante-Nicene Fathers, translated by William Fletcher Varro relates that there were ten Sibyls,—the first of the Persians, the second the Libyan, the third the Delphian, the fourth the Cimmerian...
   3. 6

      Pertaining to the ancient Cimmerians.

   4. 7

      Characteristic of Cimmeria, especially in having particularly dense darkness etc.

      • there it sleepeth, here it slumbreth: more or lesse they are ever darknesses, yea Cimmerian darknesses.
      • Tarzan slept until midnight, then he arose and crept into the Cimmerian blackness of the forest.
   5. 8

      The language of the Cimmerians, possibly belonging to the Iranian branch.

   6. 9

      related to the prehistoric continent of Cimmeria

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