east

Pronunciation

• IPA: /iːst/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English est, inherited from Old English ēast (“in or toward the east”), with ēastan (“from the east”),^[2][3][4] from Proto-Germanic *austrą, Proto-Germanic *aust-,^[3][5] literally “toward the sunrise”.^[3] Its cognates include Old Frisian āst, Old Saxon ōst, Dutch oost, German Osten and Old Norse austr (“from the east”).^[2][3][6] Watkins traces it to Proto-Indo-European *aus- (“to shine”), especially of the dawn,^[3][7] the root of Latin aurōra (“dawn”) and Greek ἠώς (ēṓs, “dawn”).^[4][8][9] French est and Spanish este were borrowed from Middle English, originally as sailors' words.^[3][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

From the east: Old English ēastan, about 725,^[2] and in the direction of the sunrise, before 900,^[2] or about 890.^[10]

Semantic evolution

As one of the four cardinal points of the compass it is from about 1200,^[3] and the eastern part of the world, from a European point of view, from about 1300.^[3] The East Indies were so called from the 1590s, to distinguish them from the West Indies.^[3] The eastern part of the United States is the East from 1786.^[11] The use of East for the communist states of the Cold War is first recorded in 1951.^[3] East End of London is by 1846, and the East Side of Manhattan from 1871.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 725 – Old English ēastan, from the east.^[2]
• c. 1200 – a cardinal point.^[3]
• c. 1300 – the eastern part of the world.^[3]
• 1590s – East Indies.^[3]
• 1786 – the eastern United States.^[11]
• 1846 – East End.^[3]
• 1951 – the communist East.^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The cardinal point of the compass 90° clockwise from north, opposite west.
2. A region lying in the east.
3. (often East) Asia, especially eastern Asia; the eastern part of a country, especially of the United States.
4. (historical) The communist states of eastern Europe.

Adjective

1. Toward, facing or in the east; coming from the east: an east wind.

Adverb

1. In, from or toward the east.

Word family

• eastness

Related words

• Easter
• eastern
• aurora
• Austria
• Ostrogoth

Usage notes

In southern and western England, east was also a dialect form of oast, a hop kiln, and in Lincolnshire and East Anglia of yeast.^[12]

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
8. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ a b Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
12. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)