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wotdsaturnine
(of a person or their manner, or of a place or occasion) gloomy
Saturnine means gloomy. Saturnalia was a mid-winter celebration of Saturn, the god of agriculture. Among the Romans, it was a time of excessive revelry and merrymaking (pretty much the opposite of gloomy).
NASA's Cassini spacecraft is approaching its final mission. This month it will dive into Saturn's atmosphere to meet its destiny. As space missions go, it's a big deal. But what of the planet--is it saturnine or saturnalian?
According to Michael Quinion at World Wide Words: the medieval alchemists identified the planet Saturn — named after the Roman god — with the element lead and astrologers linked it to slowness and gloom.
Conclusion: Though Cassini's final blaze of glory is arguably saturnalian, Saturn is literally saturnine.
