414: austral and boreal Jan 26, 2016

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Happy Australia Day! What do Australia and the northern lights have in common‽–absolutely 100% nothing. 'Australia' is a 15th century word from the Latin 'australis' meaning south, related to Auster, a god of the south-wind. 'Borealis' as part of aurora borealis comes from late the Latin 'borealis' for 'north', related to the god of the north-wind, Boreas.

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