hesperian means of or relating to the land where the sun sets; western. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 86 out of 100.
Why “hesperian” is a great word
HESPERIAN — [Adjective] Of or relating to the west, especially as the region of the setting sun, or to the geological period on Mars between the Noachian and Amazonian. From Latin Hesperius ("western, of the evening"), from Greek Hesperos ("the evening star, the west") + the English suffix -ian. Unlike "occidental," which broadly denotes the cultures of the West, or "vespertine," which specifies the time of evening, Hesperian marries geography to myth and cosmic time. It is the molten gold that gilds a lost garden at the world's edge, the long shadow cast by an alien mountain on a rusted plain, and the specific hue of a sky just after the evening star appears—a term for the west not as a place, but as a distant and fading promise.
Etymology
From Latin Hesperius + -ian.
adj
- Of or relating to the land where the sun sets; western“the parting Sun/ Beyond the Earth’s green Cape and verdant Isles/ Hesperian sets”
- Of or relating to the Hesperides nymphs“Always the same old taste, just new injury / Well, I'll wear the claws if you'd like that / Yeah, if you'd like that, we can ride on a black horse / A great new wave Hesperian death horse / I can call you when I get back / Yeah, when I get back I will call”
- Of or relating to the Martian geological period between Noachian and Amazonian
- Of or relating to the Hesperiidae family of butterflies.
name
- An inhabitant of the western lands“Our wild Hesperians humanize at last”
- The Hesperian geological time period of Mars
noun
- Any butterfly of the family Hesperiidae; a skipper