Cimmerian

From the Latin Cimmerius, from Ancient Greek Κιμμέριος (Kimmérios, “pertaining to the Cimmerii”) +‎ -an. Probably a Hittite exonym deriving from gimmara, (field), thus "people of the steppes".[1]

• (UK) IPA^(key): /sɪˈmɪəɹ.ɪ.ən/
• (US) IPA^(key): /sɪˈmɪɹ.i.ən/
• Rhymes: -ɪəɹɪən, -ɪɹiən

Cimmerian (plural Cimmerians)

1. (Greek mythology) Any of the mythical people supposed to inhabit a land of perpetual darkness.
   • 1791, Homer, translated by William Cowper, The Odyssey of Homer:

     The city, there, of the Cimmerians stands
     With clouds and darkness veil’d, on whom the sun
     Deigns not to look with his beam-darting eye,

   • 1900, Jack London, The Shrinkage of the Planet:

     On their mysterious shores were the improbable homes of impossible peoples. The Great Sea, the Broad Sea, the Boundless Sea; the Ethiopians, "dwelling far away, the most distant of men," and the Cimmerians, "covered with darkness and cloud," where "baleful night is spread over timid mortals."

2. one of the Cimmerii, ancient equestrian nomads of Indo-European origin
   • c. 1588–1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):

     Believe me, queen, your swarth Cimmerian
     Doth make your honour of his body's hue,
     Spotted, detested, and abominable.

   • 1902, Encyclopedia Britannica:

     The Phrygian power was broken in the 9th or 8th century B.C. by the Cimmerians, who entered Asia Minor through Armenia

   • 1910, Herodotus (484 B.C.E.–425 B.C.E.), History of Herodotus, translated by George Rawlinson

     In his reign the Cimmerians, driven from their homes by the nomads of Scythia, entered Asia and captured Sardis

3. (historical) the prophetic priestess presiding over the Apollonian Oracle at Cimmerium in Italy.
   • 1867 to 1885, Lactantius (240–320 C.E.), Ante-Nicene Fathers, translated by William Fletcher

     Varro relates that there were ten Sibyls,—the first of the Persians, the second the Libyan, the third the Delphian, the fourth the Cimmerian...

Cimmerian (comparative more Cimmerian, superlative most Cimmerian)

1. Pertaining to the ancient Cimmerians.
2. Characteristic of Cimmeria; especially describing particularly dense darkness etc.
   • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 12, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:

     there it sleepeth, here it slumbreth: more or lesse they are ever darknesses, yea Cimmerian darknesses.

Cimmerian

1. the language of the Cimmerians, possibly belonging to the Iranian branch

Cimmeria +‎ -an.

Cimmerian (not comparable)

1. related to the prehistoric continent of Cimmeria