primæval

Adjective

primeval (comparative more primeval, superlative most primeval)

1. Belonging to the first ages.
   • a primeval galaxy
2. Primary; original.
   • A letter from Mr. [Brian Houghton] Hodgson to Mr. Bayley, was then read, giving an outline of the theocracy of the Buddha system of Nepal. […] According to the information now communicated, the northern Buddhas acknowledge four sets of divine beings, or of superhuman objects of veneration. The...1827 July, “Asiatic Society of Calcutta”, in The Oriental Herald, and Journal of General Literature, volume XIV, number 43, London: Printed for the editor, and sold by all booksellers [printed by J....
3. Primitive.
   • If their views were entrancing their sanitation was primeval; if they possessed stables they were also next to the gas-works; if their gardens were delightful there were odours suspicious of mice in the bedrooms.1957, Herbert Ernest Bates, Death of a Huntsman, page 185