Editing Cardinal direction (section)

==Unique (non-compound) names of intercardinal directions==
[[File:Ilmakaared+ilmansuunnat.svg|thumb|250px|right|Cardinal and non-compound intercardinal directions in Estonian and Finnish. Notice the intermixed "south" and "southwest". Further intermixing between directions south and northwest occur in other [[Finnic languages]].]]
In some [[language]]s, such as [[Estonian language|Estonian]], [[Finnish language|Finnish]] and [[Breton language|Breton]], the intercardinal directions have names that are not compounds of the names of the cardinal directions (as, for instance, ''northeast'' is compounded from ''north'' and ''east''). In Estonian, those are ''kirre'' (northeast), ''kagu'' (southeast), ''edel'' (southwest), and ''loe'' (northwest), in Finnish ''koillinen'' (northeast), ''kaakko'' (southeast), ''lounas'' (southwest), and ''luode'' (northwest). In Japanese, there is the interesting situation that native Japanese words ([[yamato kotoba]], kun readings of kanji) are used for the cardinal directions (such as ''minami'' for 南, south), but borrowed Chinese words (on readings of kanji) are used for intercardinal directions (such as ''tō-nan'' for 東南, southeast, lit. "east-south").{{Dubious|date=May 2021|reason=Nan is also used for south in compounds. Isn't it a confusion of the different kanji readings?}} In the [[Malay language]], adding ''laut'' (sea) to either east (''timur'') or west (''barat'') results in northeast or northwest, respectively, whereas adding ''daya'' to west (giving ''barat daya'') results in southwest. Southeast has a special word: ''tenggara''.

Sanskrit and other Indian languages that borrow from it use the names of the [[Guardians of the directions|gods associated with each direction]]: east (Indra), southeast (Agni), south (Yama/Dharma), southwest (Nirrti), west (Varuna), northwest (Vayu), north (Kubera/Heaven) and northeast (Ishana/Shiva). North is associated with the Himalayas and heaven while the south is associated with the underworld or land of the fathers (Pitr loka). The directions are named by adding "disha" to the names of each god or entity: e.g. Indradisha (direction of Indra) or Pitrdisha (direction of the forefathers i.e. south).

The cardinal directions of the [[Hopi language]] and the [[Tewa language|Tewa dialect]] spoken by the [[Hopi-Tewa]] are related to the places of sunrise and sunset at the solstices, and correspond approximately to the European intercardinal directions.<ref name = "Hopi_Dictionary"/><ref name = "Hopi_Raum">{{Citation | last = Malotki | first = Ekkehart | author-link = Ekkehart Malotki | year = 1979 | title = Hopi-Raum: Eine sprachwissenschaftliche Analyse der Raumvorstellungen in der Hopi-Sprache | series = Tübinger Beiträge zur Linguistik | volume = 81 | publisher = Gunter Narr Verlag | place = Tübingen | language = de | page = 165, "Die Ausrichtung des Hopi-Kardinalsystems" (The Orientation of the Hopi Cardinal System) | isbn = 3-87808-081-6 }}</ref><ref>{{Citation | last = Stephen | first = Alexander M. | editor-last = Parsons | editor-first = Elsie Clews | editor-link = Elsie Clews Parsons | year = 1936 | title = Hopi Journal of Alexander M. Stephen | series = Columbia University Contributions to Anthropology | volume = 23 | publisher = Columbia University Press | publication-place = New York | pages = 1190–1191 | oclc = 716671864 }}</ref>