Laurentia

English

Etymology

A New Latin formation named after the Saint Lawrence River: Laurentius (Lawrence) + -ia (New Latin suffix for creating place names). Or, back-formed from Laurentian (from French laurentien), already in use to describe the Laurentian Mountains and their associated geologic complex (and by extension Canada as a whole). (Can this(+) etymology be sourced?)

Proper noun

Laurentia

  1. (geology) The craton that forms the geological core of North America, and that was a separate continent in the past (before merging into Laurasia).
    • 2015, Kent C. Condie, Plate Tectonics & Crustal Evolution:
      Laurentia includes most of North America, Scotland and Ireland north of the Caledonian suture, Greenland, Spitzbergen, and the Chukotsk peninsula of eastern Siberia.
  2. (nonstandard) Canada.

Derived terms

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