East
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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East is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. East is one of the four cardinal directions or compass points. It is the opposite of west and is perpendicular to north and south.
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Etymology
The word east comes from Middle English est, from Old English ēast, which itself comes from the Proto-Germanic *aus-to- or *austra- "east, toward the sunrise", from Proto-Indo-European *aus- "to shine," or "dawn". This is similar to Old High German *ōstar "to the east", Latin aurora "dawn", and Greek ēōs or heōs. Ēostre, a Germanic goddess of dawn, might have been a personification of both dawn and the cardinal points. Also could be related to Latin aster, meaning "star."
Navigation
By convention, the right hand side of a map is east. This convention has developed from the use of a compass, which places north at the top.
To go east using a compass for navigation, set a bearing or azimuth of 90°.
Cultural
East is the direction toward which the Earth rotates about its axis, and therefore the general direction from which the Sun appears to rise. The practice of praying towards the East is older than Christianity, but has been adopted by this religion as the Orient was thought of as containing the mankind's original home. Hence, most Christian churches are oriented towards the east.
During the Cold War, "The East" was sometimes used to refer to the Warsaw Pact and Communist China, along with other Communist nations.
Throughout history, the East has also been used by Europeans in reference to the Orient and Asian societies.
See also
