Hyperborean

1 9.9

A person from old stories who lives far north where the sun always shines and people are happy

noun
/haɪˈpɜrˌbɔriən/

Archaic

: hiperbóreo

I am astounded that Hickes attributed to the Anglo-Saxons a song that poured forth from the Danish bard, fired by the flame of hyperborean Apollo.

Examples

The legend tells of the Hyperboreans, a people who enjoyed eternal happiness under the sun.
Our bodies were trembling from exertion, the hyperborean cold, and spent adrenaline, and at last we both collapsed, breathless, hungry, dehydrated.

Fiction book (1996)
There it was sometimes said that beyond a range of mountains shrouded in perpetual night, the Hyperboreans dwelt in a land never troubled by a bitter breeze.
In ancient Greek mythology, the Hyperboreans were believed to live in a paradise far to the north.
According to ancient texts, the Hyperboreans lived in a land of constant light and joy.

Compounds

hyperborean landscape

Literature

9.9

A land with snow and ice far in the north

Surface Forms

Hyperborean singular

Hyperboreans plural

Morphology

Hyperborean = borean (opaque) = hyper + bore + an

Even if the classical element 'hyper-' is recognized as 'beyond', the mythological sense is not predictable for most learners from the base alone.

Etymology

Hyperborean comes from Greek parts hyper- 'beyond' and Boreas 'north wind', the same Boreas you find in Aurora Borealis and the word boreal meaning 'northern'. So a Hyperborean was imagined as a person who lived 'beyond the north wind', far to the north in a land of endless sunshine and happiness.