Madam, - It was nice to read Brendan McWilliams's interesting account of the Sirocco wind (Weather Eye, June 26th).
Some of your readers may be interested to know that in classical times the Romans referred to this wind which swept upwards across the Mediterranean from the southwest as "Ventus Africanus" (the African wind). Earlier, the Greeks had called it the "Lips" (from the verb "Leibo" which meant to pour out, or to wet).
This Greek name probably had its origin in the fact (as Brendan McWilliams pointed out) that the wind, having crossed the sea, was normally moist and damp when it reached the shores of Greece and Italy.
It may also be interesting to note that Horace at the beginning of his Odes refers to the Sirocco: "Luctantem Icariis fluctibus Africum, mercator timens. . ." With this reference the poet brings to our attention that the wind was feared by sea-farers because it was generally associated with turbulence and tempests at sea. - Yours, etc.,
THOMAS P. WALSH, Faussagh Road, Dublin 7.