Favonius

[fuh-voh-nee-uh s]

noun

the ancient Roman personification of the west wind.

Compare Zephyrus.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for favonius

Historical Examples of favonius

At the door of it I met Favonius, not without a secret satisfaction to find he had been there.
Isaac Bickerstaff
Richard Steele
Timber should be felled between early Autumn and the time when Favonius begins to blow.
Ten Books on Architecture
Vitruvius
Draco is any bloody fellow; Favonius is any sycophant: but Pope is very different.
The Posthumous Works of Thomas De Quincey, Vol. II (2 vols)
Thomas De Quincey
Favonius carried my tribe with better credit than his own; he lost that of Lucceius.
The Letters of Cicero, Volume 1
Marcus Tullius Cicero
There no one will speak his mind except Antius and Favonius, for Cato is ill.
The Letters of Cicero, Volume 1
Marcus Tullius Cicero

Word Origin and History for favonius

Favonius

personification of the west wind in Roman mythology, OED says from Latin favere "to favor;" Klein says by dissimilation from *fovonius, literally "the warming wind," from fovere "to warm." This is the source (via Old High German phonno, 10c., via Vulgar Latin contraction *faonius) of German Föhn "warm, dry wind blowing down Alpine valleys."