Septentrional comes from Latin septentrionalis, from septentriones ('the seven plough-oxen', the seven stars of the Great Bear marking the north), from septem ('seven') and triones ('plough-oxen'). The historical chain includes Latin septentrionalis and Latin septem. The quoted older senses, "the seven plough-oxen", "seven", and "plough-oxen", supply the semantic anchors for septentrional. The formation is best read as borrowed: the word septentrional carries its older form-history into a compact English lexical shape. In present English it is used as a adj, "of or relating to the north; northern". English derivatives include septentrionally; related English forms include septentrion. The result is a adj whose etymology preserves both the older form and the later English specialization.