Saturnine is defined of a person or their manner as slow and gloomy or of a person or their features as dark in coloring and moody or mysterious. Saturnine can also be used to describe someone born under or influenced astrologically by the planet Saturn. Saturnine derives from the Latin Saturninus (of Saturn). Saturnine was first used in the 15th century.
Saturnine is an excellent descriptive word since it can used to describe a temperament, a personality trait, a physical trait, or even a place. A saturnine attitude would be one that was gloomy, melancholy, or moody. A person’s looks could have saturnine traits if they were mysterious, or sardonic, like a smile or the look in their eyes. A saturnine place or occasion would be shadowy, dim, or somber.
They caught my eye with the saturnine turn of the lips, coupled with a head toss as they strode across the rainy cliffs in in the gloomy dusk…
Saturnine is a fantastic word, though I think it’s a rather harsh descriptor for those who happened to be born under the influence of the plant Saturn. Like all the planets in Astrology, Saturn as it’s positive aspects as well as it’s negative, so to be confined to simply the saturnine definition is rather short-sided. That said, saturnine is a lovely descriptive that I like to use judiciously. What do you think of saturnine?
Namaste ~ Ella
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Lawhimsy 