hyperborean

Etymology

Late Latin hyperboreanus, cognate with classical Latin hyperboreus; the Greek word was ὑπερβόρεος, i.e. ὑπέρ (hupér, “over”) + βόρειος ‘northern’.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /hʌɪpəˈbɔːɹɪən/

Noun

hyperborean (plural hyperboreans)

1. One of a race of people in Greek mythology living in the extreme north, beyond the north wind.
2. (usually humorous) Any person living in a northern country, or to the north.

Adjective

hyperborean (comparative more hyperborean, superlative most hyperborean)

1. Pertaining to the extreme north of the earth, or (usually jocular) to a specific northern country or area.
   • 1633, C. Butler

     The hyperborean or frozen sea.

   • 1922, James Joyce, Ulysses:

     You could have knelt down, damn it, Kinch, when your dying mother asked you, Buck Mulligan said. I’m hyperborean as much as you. But to think of your mother begging you with her last breath to kneel down and pray for her. And you refused.