Editing Cardinal direction (section)

==Germanic origin of names==
During the [[Migration Period]], the [[Germanic languages|Germanic]] names for the cardinal directions entered the [[Romance languages]], where they replaced the [[Latin]] names ''borealis'' (or ''septentrionalis'') with north, ''australis'' (or ''meridionalis'') with south, ''occidentalis'' with west and ''orientalis'' with east. It is possible that some northern people used the Germanic names for the intermediate directions. Medieval Scandinavian orientation would thus have involved a 45 degree rotation of cardinal directions.<ref>See e.g. Weibull, Lauritz. ''De gamle nordbornas väderstrecksbegrepp''. Scandia 1/1928; Ekblom, R. ''Alfred the Great as Geographer''. Studia Neophilologica 14/1941-2; Ekblom, R. ''Den forntida nordiska orientering och Wulfstans resa till Truso''. Förnvännen. 33/1938; Sköld, Tryggve. ''Isländska väderstreck''. Scripta Islandica. Isländska sällskapets årsbok 16/1965.</ref>
*''north'' ([[Proto-Germanic]] ''*norþ-'') from the [[proto-Indo-European]] *''nórto-s'' 'submerged' from the root *''ner-'' 'left, below, to the left of the rising sun' whence comes the [[Ancient Greek]] name ''[[Nereus]]''.<ref>entries 765-66 of the [[Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch]]</ref>
*''east'' (''*aus-t-'') from the word for [[dawn]]. The proto-Indo-European form is *''austo-s'' from the root *''aues''- 'shine (red)'.<ref name="ReferenceA">entries 86-7 of the [[Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch]]</ref> See ''[[Ēostre]]''.
*''south'' (''*sunþ-''), derived from proto-Indo-European *''sú-n-to-s'' from the root *''seu''- 'seethe, boil'.<ref>entries 914-15 of the [[Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch]]</ref> Cognate with this root is the word ''[[Sun]]'', thus "the region of the Sun".
*''west'' (''*wes-t-'') from a word for "evening". The proto-Indo-European form is *''uestos'' from the root *ues- 'shine (red)',<ref>entries 1173 of the [[Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch]]</ref> itself a form of *''aues''-.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> Cognate with the root are the [[Latin]] words ''[[wikt:vesper|vesper]]'' and ''[[wikt:vesta|vesta]]'' and the [[Ancient Greek]] ''[[Hestia]]'', ''[[Hesperus]]'' and ''[[Hesperides]]''.