Word of the Day for Friday, February 17, 2012
tramontane \truh-MON-teyn\,
adjective:
1. Being or situated beyond the mountains.
2. Beyond the Alps as viewed from Italy; transalpine.
3. Of, pertaining to, or coming from the other side of the mountains.
4. Foreign; barbarous.
noun:
1. A person who lives beyond the mountains: formerly applied by the Italians to the peoples beyond the Alps, and by the latter to the Italians.
2. A foreigner; outlander; barbarian.
3. A violent, polar wind from the northwest that blows in southern France.
The tramontane concerns of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company were managed by two resident partners, Fitzgerald and Bridger.
-- Washington Irving, "History, Tales, and Sketches"
Governor Spottiswood's tramontane expedition had not long gone its romantic way when there came over the mountain trail an English sailor-pioneer named John Shore.
-- Frances Courtenay Baylor, "Beyond the Blue Ridge"
Tramontane comes from the Latin word trānsmontānus which meant beyond the mountains. It is made of three roots: mont meaning mountain, trans meaning over, and -an, a suffix denoting "coming from."
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