The Collaborative International Dictionary
Cimmerian \Cim*me"ri*an\, a. [L. Cimmerius.] [Written also Kimmerian.]
Pertaining to the Cimmerii, a fabulous people, said to have lived, in very ancient times, in profound and perpetual darkness.
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Without any light; intensely dark.
In dark Cimmerian desert ever dwell.
--Milton.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
late 16c., "pertaining to the Cimmerii," an ancient nomadic people who, according to Herodotus, inhabited the region around the Crimea, and who, according to Assyrian sources, overran Asia Minor 7c. B.C.E.; from Latin Cimmerius, from Greek Kimmerios. Homer described their land as a place of perpetual mist and darkness beyond the ocean, but whether he had in mind the same people Herodotus did, or any real place, is unclear.
Wiktionary
a. 1 Pertaining to the ancient Cimmerians. 2 Characteristic of Cimmeria; especially describing particularly dense darkness etc. n. 1 (context Greek mythology English) Any of the mythical people supposed to inhabit a land of perpetual darkness. 2 one of the Cimmerii, ancient equestrian nomads of Indo-European origin 3 (context historical English) the prophetic priestess presiding over the Apollonian Oracle at Cimmerium in Italy. n. the language of the Cimmerians, possibly belonging to the Iranian branch
Usage examples of "cimmerian".
If Stercus had his way, he would wipe every Cimmerian off the face of the earth.
The axemen had cleared the dark Cimmerian forest back far enough from the ditch and the wall of stakes that the wild men lurking in the woods could not hope to take the army by surprise.
Bossonians and Gundermen outside the encampment were fully formed to face the Cimmerian tidal wave, it swept onto them.
Here and there, a dark-haired Cimmerian would clap his hands to his chest or his neck or his face and fall.
A barbarian swinging a two-handed sword almost as tall as he was thundered toward him, shouting something in Cimmerian that Granth could not understand.
Granth had no time to thrust, but used his pikestaff as if it were a cudgel, clouting the Cimmerian in the side of the head.
But to Granth, as to the other men who bore the brunt of the savage Cimmerian onslaught, their friends entered the fight at what seemed a glacial pace.
The Cimmerian, who wore a wolfskin jacket over baggy woolen breeks, howled incomprehensible, oddly musical curses at him.
Granth could answer, the Cimmerian on the ground hooked an arm around his ankle and tried to drag him off his feet.
His cousin speared the Cimmerian, who groaned, spat blood, and at last, long after a civilized man would have, died.
New mourning had broken out only the night before, when a Cimmerian died after taking a fever from his wound.
Vulth and a pair of Bossonian archers stood sentry outside the encampment the new garrison had made by the Cimmerian village.
After a wary glance to make sure the Aquilonians were holding their place and not pursuing him, the young Cimmerian went on toward his village.
A very pretty Cimmerian girl carrying a pitcher of wine and two goblets on a tray came into the barracks.
Stercus has taken for his own a Cimmerian girl of good family, using her for his pleasure and threatening to turn his Aquilonian dogs loose against the countryside if she does not yield to his desires.