Sunday, November 4, 2012
austral \AW-struhl\, adjective
1. Southern.
2. (Initial capital letter) Australian.
That, at least, was not difficult to do; as they filtered through branches and thick treetops, the rays of the austral sun covered bodies and houses and all the objects of the inhabited area with undulating patterns of light and shadow blended spectrally into random jungle forms.
-- Carlos Fuentes, Terra Nostra
The church, from the north, seems a precious stone, on its austral side it is blood-colored, to the west white as snow, and above it shine countless stars more splendid than those in our sky.
-- Umberto Eco, Baudolino
Austral is derived from the Latin word australis meaning "southern."
