Mike Oswalt saw hesternal over on A.Word.A.Day and naturally was compelled to forward to me. You might presume that it means something like “…of or relating to a Hester” but you would, of course, be incorrect. What does hesternal mean?
hesternal (he-STER-nuhl) adjective
Of yesterday.
[From Latin hesternus (of yesterday).]
Wikipedia adds a bit more context:
Hesternal tense is a group of grammatical tenses that are defined relative to the previous day. Pre-hesternal past tense refers to events happening previous to yesterday, whereas hesternal past tense refers to events happening yesterday.
I never really cared much for grammer. I love language, reading and writing. I’m just not enamored by the mechanics. Disecting the structure of a sentence is akin to performing a post-portem on a dead poet’s blood, sweat and tears.
In spite of that, I’m putting one grammatical term to good use, and posting this yesterday instead of hodiernal.