Monday word: hiemal, brumal

[ersatz-read.livejournal.com]

hiemal (ˈhaɪ ə məl) adj.

Of or relating to winter; wintry.  A synonym for 'hibernal' (think 'hibernate').

Etymology:  mid 1500s, from Latin hiems, winter.

brumal (bro͞o′məl), adj.

Of, relating to, or occurring in winter.

Etymology:  early 1500s, from Latin bruma, winter.

So, how do these words differ?  I'm not entirely sure....
I see online comments about hiemal meaning 'pertaining to winter' while brumal means 'belonging to winter'...which I suppose could be the distinction between "wintry" and "occurring in winter" in the above definitions.
Looking to the Latin...'hiems' might be related to snow; 'brume' might have originally meant something like "season of the shortest day" (winter solstice).

So I guess if I had to try to use them distinctively in a sentence, I'd say something like "I attribute the hiemal weather to the brumal time of year".
The weather here isn't hiemal yet...the picture below is from a couple years ago.  (Despite the red head, that's a red-bellied woodpecker.)

Comments

[prettygoodword.livejournal.com]

That's more or less the distinction I make: hiemal is quality and brumal is chronology.