Monday, September 2, 2019

Is notus a xenophobic compound word?














Notus (population ~540) is a very small city in southwestern Idaho, whose post office is shown above. Is its name an unusual xenophobic compound word formed from not (an adverb) and us (a pronoun)? That explanation was given in an article by Danielle Wiley titled The hazy history of Notus which appeared in the Idaho Press on March 25, 2016. It is implausible, since the name is pronounced like it instead was spelled notice.

Her article mentioned that notus also was thought to be a Native American word meaning “it’s all right.” Finally, near very end she mentioned:

“The town's website describes it as the ‘city of the southwind’ because the word notus is believed to be a Greek word for ‘south wind.’ ”

I got curious and looked up notus in the Oxford English Dictionary. It says that noun means the south wind, frequently personified ;  Notus the god of the south wind, son of Eos and Astraeus. The Latin word comes down to us from ancient Greek (Νότος). Apparently someone in southwest Idaho knew a bit of Greek mythology.



















At Wikimedia Commons I even found an image of the god Notus from a 1794 book.

Here is a Youtube video about someone who grew up in Notus.

No comments: