What is "germinal"

Germinal \Ger"mi*nal\, a. [See Germ.]

1. Pertaining or belonging to a germ; as, the germinal vesicle.

2. (Biol.) Of or pertaining to the germ, or germ cells, as distinguished from the somatic cells.

   Germinal layers (Biol.), the two layers of cells, the ectoblast and entoblast, which form respectively the outer covering and inner wall of the gastrula. A third layer of cells, the mesoblast, which is formed later and lies between these two, is sometimes included.

   Germinal membrane. (Biol.) Same as Blastoderm.

   Germinal spot (Biol.), the nucleolus of the ovum.

   Germinal vesicle, (Biol.), the nucleus of the ovum of animals.

Germinal \Ger`mi*nal"\, n. [F. See Germ .] The seventh month of the French republican calendar [1792 -- 1806]. It began March 21 and ended April 19. See Vend['E]miaire.

1808, from Modern Latin germinalis "in the germ," from Latin germen (genitive germinis) "sprout, bud, sprig, offshoot" (see germ) + -al (1).

a. 1 Pertaining or belonging to a germ. 2 (label en figuratively) Of or pertaining to something very small, as small as a germ; pertaining to the essence of something. 3 (label en figuratively) Highly influential, seminal.

adj. containing seeds of later development; "seminal ideas of one discipline can influence the growth of another" [syn: originative, seminal]

Germinal is the thirteenth novel in Émile Zola's twenty-volume series Les Rougon-Macquart. Often considered Zola's masterpiece and one of the most significant novels in the French tradition, the novel – an uncompromisingly harsh and realistic story of a coalminers' strike in northern France in the 1860s – has been published and translated in over one hundred countries and has additionally inspired five film adaptations and two television productions.

Germinal was written between April 1884 and January 1885. It was first serialized between November 1884 and February 1885 in the periodical Gil Blas, then in March 1885 published as a book.

The title refers to the name of a month of the French Republican Calendar, a spring month. Germen is a Latin word which means "seed"; the novel describes the hope for a better future that seeds amongst the miners. As the final lines of the novel read:

Germinal was the seventh month in the French Republican Calendar. The month was named after the Latin word germen, "germination". Germinal was the first month of the spring quarter (mois de printemps). It started March 21 or March 22, and ended April 19 or April 20. It follows Ventôse and precedes Floréal.

In the context of the French Revolution, Germinal sometimes refers to the downfall and execution of the Indulgents, Georges Danton and Camille Desmoulins, which took place during Germinal of 1794, four months before the Thermidorian Reaction in which Robespierre himself was executed. The events of Germinal 1794 signaled the beginning of the end of the Reign of Terror.

Germinal (זשערמינאל, also transliterated as Zsherminal) was a Yiddish-language anarchist journal in London edited by the German-born Rudolf Rocker. It appeared from 1900 to 1903, and then again from 1905 to 1908.

In 1898, the Yiddish anarchist newspaper Arbeter Fraynd hired Rudolf Rocker, a non-Jew, who had just started learning the language, as its editor. However, despite an intervention by Emma Goldman and the devotion of many activists trying to save the paper, it had to be shut down for financial reasons in January 1900. Yet, the Jewish anarchists who published Arbeter Fraynd were unwilling to be left without any means of spreading their message. Therefore, Rocker, with the assistance of a young printer known as Narodiczky, founded the sixteen-page journal, which was published every fortnight and named after Émile Zola's novel of the same name. Compared to Arbeter Fraynd, it was directed at a more intellectual audience and dealt with philosophy and literature using libertarian concepts to analyse them. In 1903, it also had to stop publication for lack of money.

In January 1905, Germinal was revived by Rocker and his comrades. The Jewish anarchist labour movement in London was on the rise, so the journal was able to reach a demand of 2,500 by the following year, when it was expanded to forty-eight pages. Publication of Arbeter Fraynd had resumed in 1903, so Germinal now had the role of the more intellectual equivalent of that newspaper, which was the more widespread of the two.

The journal's influence reached far beyond London. Most cities in the world with a considerable recent Russian or Polish Jewish settlement had Germinal readers: most of the larger cities in the United States, Paris, Berlin, Bucharest, Sofia, Cairo, Alexandria, Johannesburg, Cape Town, and Buenos Aires. Alexander Granach, one of the leading actors of Weimar Germany, was introduced to the world of literature by Germinal.

Nevertheless, publication of Germinal ceased in 1908.

Germinal may refer to:

• Germinal (French Republican Calendar), the seventh month of the calendar, approximately March 21 - April 19

Germinal was an Uruguayan weekly newspaper, the central organ of the Socialist Party of Uruguay, founded in 1921. In 1931 Germinal was superseded by a new Socialist Party newspaper, the daily El Sol.

Germinal is a 1963 French language French-Italian-Hungarian film directed by Yves Allégret. It is an adaptation of the novel Germinal by Emile Zola.

Germinal is a 1993 French epic film based on the novel by Émile Zola. It was directed by Claude Berri, and stars Gérard Depardieu, Miou-Miou and Renaud. At the time it was the most expensive movie ever produced in France. The film had 6,161,776 admissions in France making it the 4th most attended film of the year.

It won the César Award for Best Cinematography and Best Costume Design, and was nominated for Best Film, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best director, Best Writing, Best Sound, Best Editing, Best Music and Best Production Design. The film was selected as the French entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 66th Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee.

The film, set in the nineteenth century, closely follows the plot of the novel, which is a realistic story of a coalminers' strike in northern France in the 1860s.