Just to create an other neologism we could use "antoporanthous" for the "pre-spring" flowering plants. It means "flowering in the season opposite to opōra" (like arctic/antarctic). Gianluca Corazza, Italy, Z9a 2016-08-20 22:07 GMT+02:00 Jim McKenney <jamesamckenney@verizon.net>: > Yes, plain English is almost always better than something most people > won't understand. > Let me make oporanthous a little easier to understand. I've been using it > since 2007. > It's derived from the Classical Greek word ὀπώρα. If your screen does not > print Greek characters, the conventional transliteration of that word would > be opōra. In modern Greek it means fruit.Here's the translation given in > Liddell & Scott, the standard Classical Greek-English lexicon: > > “ὀπώρα…the part of the year between the rising of Sirius and of Arcturus > (i.e. the last days of July, all Aug., and part of Sept.), the latter part > of summer;…” > > > Sirius is sometimes called the dog star, thus our expression "the dog days > of summer". And to me, although that's plainer and more poetic English than > "late summer", I suspect that most people don't really know why the dog > days are so called. It's apparently still Greek to most people! > In my climate, this word oporanthous exactly describes the season of > Lycoris, Sternbergia, many Colchicum - all bulbs often mistakenly described > as autumnal. There are certainly Colchicum which are not oporanthous - > members of that genus bloom from late summer until late winter. And there > are Sternbergia which bloom in late winter, and the occasional Lycoris > blooms in true autumn. But the word oporanthous is useful for calling > attention to bulb activity in late summer, to call attention to the fact > that it is something which happens predictably at about the same time each > year and well before the onset of autumn in late September. > There is another important bulb season which does not have a familiar name > in English: the late winter days when snowdrops, crocuses, winter aconites, > reticulate irises and so many other important bulbs bloom. Karl Foerster, > in one of his early works ( Vom Blütengartender Zukunft, 1922) uses the > German word Vorfrühling for this period. That translates literally as > "pre-spring". I'm sure Vorfrühling falls more gently on the ears of German > speakers than "pre-spring" does on the ears of English speakers. When I'm > talking to myself, so-to-speak, I use Vorfrühling. Someone needs to come > up with a more felicitous translation for those of us who speak English. > JimMcKenneyMontgomery County, Maryland, USA, USDA zone 7, where the dogs > are panting hard! > > > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/ _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.ibiblio.org http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/