east English · revision 3584

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=c. 725 (Old English ēastan)|origins=ine-pro *aus-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /iːst/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|est]], [[inh|ang|ēast|t=in or toward the east]], with [[m|ang|ēastan|t=from the east]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate) from [[gem-pro|*austrą]], [[gem-pro|*aust-]],^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) literally “toward the sunrise”.^(Etymonline) Its cognates include [[ofs|āst]], [[osx|ōst]], [[nl|oost]], [[de|Osten]] and [[non|austr|t=from the east]].^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(Klein 1966) Watkins traces it to [[ine-pro|*aus-|t=to shine]], especially of the dawn,^(Etymonline)^(AHD 2000) the root of Latin [[m|la|aurōra|t=dawn]] and Greek [[m|grc|ἠώς|tr=ēṓs|t=dawn]].^(MW Collegiate)^(SOED 2002)^(Cresswell 2021) French [[m|fr|est]] and Spanish [[m|es|este]] were borrowed from Middle English, originally as sailors' words.^(Etymonline)^(Cresswell 2021)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ From the east: Old English ''ēastan'', about 725,^(Barnhart 1988) and in the direction of the sunrise, before 900,^(Barnhart 1988) or about 890.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

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

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 725 – Old English ''ēastan'', from the east.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 1200 – a cardinal point.^(Etymonline)

+ * c. 1300 – the eastern part of the world.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1590s – ''East Indies''.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1786 – the eastern United States.^(HTOED)

+ * 1846 – ''East End''.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1951 – the communist East.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The [[cardinal point]] of the compass 90° clockwise from north, opposite [[west]].^(AHD)^(SOED 2002)

+ # A region lying in the east.^(AHD)

+ # ''(often East)'' Asia, especially eastern Asia; the eastern part of a country, especially of the United States.^(AHD)^(HTOED)

+ # ''(historical)'' The communist states of eastern Europe.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Toward, facing or in the east; coming from the east: ''an east wind''.^(AHD)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ===Adverb===

+ # In, from or toward the east.^(AHD)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==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]].^(Wright 1898)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}