aeolian

Pronunciation pronunciation key
ayōleeăn

Definition 
Of or relating to the wind. Aeolus was identified in Greek mythology as a god of the winds. In modern usage the word Aeolian is usually employed in relation to sounds produced naturally by the wind as it passes over a stretched string, as in the case of an aeolian harp. In musical theory, an Aeolian mode is a natural diatonic scale from A to A that forms the basis of the modern minor key. Stones that have been deposited or worn by the wind may sometimes be referred to as aeolian rocks. "I do love a good tree…. How grand its voice is, too, when it talks with the wind: a thousand aeolian harps cannot equal the beauty of the sighing of a great tree in leaf" (H. Rider Haggard, Allan Quatermain, 1887).