Four directions, plus... ?

Ha, that's interesting siiludus. I also get confused by the Estonian "lääne" (west) although it's basically the same as the Finnish "länsi", because I learnt the word from the Estonian name of the Baltic Sea, Läänemeri ("Western Sea" which makes sense)... and in Finnish it's "Itämeri" ("East Sea"... doesn't really make sense...) so somehow I still think that the Estonian "lääne" means "east".

Kape,
I understand that can be confusing,
<blockquote>Quote
<hr>Estonian name of the Baltic Sea, Läänemeri ("Western Sea" which makes sense)... and in Finnish it's ("East Sea"... doesn't really make sense...) <hr></blockquote>
My guess is that the term "Itämeri" (Eastern Sea) was imported from Sweden, where the Balitic Sea is along the eastern coast of Sweden, and is called Östersjön (Eastern Sea).
Looking from Estonia, which is opposite to Sweden, across Baltic, the sea is really to the west, and the name they use really makes sense.

Yes, I'm sure it's a loan translation in Finnish, but somehow I would think that it's quite an old loan so that it would come from some old Germanic language rather than actual Swedish.

That could be as you say. It seems that Eastern Sea (Baltic Sea) is the common name for all Germanic languages, except English.

Back to the topic - it's interesting to see how the world directions in Finnish, and some other languages, are determined by other factors than the sun cycle.
It would be interesting to hear also about Hungarian.

I've tried to find the origin or the Germanic N-S-E-W. There is not much about that is sure. North is associated with 'left' when facing the rising sun. But the origin of the remaining three directions is unclear.

I'm still a bit puzzled with the Polish. Midnight (north), Midday (south). It's not used in other Slavic languages.

<blockquote>Quote
<hr>In Polish, those words translated to English, are Midnight, Midday, Rise, Descend.<hr></blockquote>

And the Polish word for "west", zachod, means "toilet" in Czech. The Polish translation of the book All Quiet on the Western Front has a very funny title for Czechs: "Na Zachodzie bez zmian". This sounds like it should mean something like "in toilets without changes".

I don't know about the midnight/midday thing in Polish, it's weird. I don't know if any other Slavic languages use it.

#14
Haha, we've got a lot of 'false friends', both ways, that can make you laugh.
So is the case with the Czech "Východ" (East), which in Polish diminutive form means outhouse (toilet).

In romance languages, in addition to the standard E-W-S-N, there's also oriental, occidental, meridional, septentrional. In Spanish, poniente (West) is still quite common.

Thanks for the replies so far.

<blockquote>Quote
<hr>it'd be interesting to know the origin of the English North, South, East and West<hr></blockquote>
<blockquote>Quote
<hr>There is not much about that is sure. North is associated with 'left' when facing the rising sun. But the origin of the remaining three directions is unclear.<hr></blockquote>

#13 There is a fair amount at etymonline.com. I particularly like that the ancient "East" eventually gave us "Australia."

<blockquote>Quote
<hr>I don't know about the midnight/midday thing in Polish, it's weird. I don't know if any other Slavic languages use it.<hr></blockquote>

A Ukrainian-American colleague told me long ago that the words were similar in Ukrainian--sure enough, an online translator yields "pivnich" and "pivden" for "north" and "south."

CK

On midday meaning south in Polish: the south of France is the Midi and the south of Italy is the Mezzogiorno, both meaning midday. They're not used for directions, though, just as names of the regions.

I can confirm #17, that Ukrainian follows Polish usage.

The French Midi is used to mean South in the Belgian dialect. For example, Bruxelles has Gare du Midi = south station,