A tough question for some, an easy question for some.?

Question

Okay. WHy is it that planet earth is also reffered to "the four corners of the world"?

sorry...
how did term four corners of the world originate?

strange... if you take a circle right, a hexagon can fit inside it. Add a few lines, you have a cube. The version explained using geometry and early medieval principles.

wow. there are so many views. THis is amazing. Do some people in this day of age still think the world is flat. That i did not know. I thought everyone got over that fact. I was wrong.

Answer 1

In the old days, like about before Columbus, people believed that the world was flat and had four corners. If you go too close to the edge, you would fall into a bottomless pit! So you can understand how the term 4 corners came about. It is still used figuratively, but it is meaningless.

Now we usually use the term, "around the world", "spanning the globe" or simply "the globe".

Answer 2

It is a biblical term..."four corners of the earth" simply means all parts of the earth. When the scriptures were translated from Hebrew corners was written in replace of the Hebrew word KANAPH. Kanaph is translated in a variety of ways, but it generally means extremity.

From the Bible, Isaiah 11-12:

And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.

& Revelation 7-1:

And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree.

The reference of the four corners does not mean that the writers of the texts thought that the earth was flat or a square, it is not meant in a literal way. The reference from revelations suggests that the four corners are the four compass points.

Answer 3

Perhaps no phrase in Scripture has been so controversial as the phrase, "the four corners of the earth." The word translated "corners," as in the phrase above, is the Hebrew word, KANAPH. Kanaph is translated in a variety of ways. However, it generally means extremity.
It is translated "borders" in Numbers 15:38. In Ezekiel 7:2 it is translated "four corners" and again in Isaiah 11:12 "four corners." Job 37:3 and 38:13 as "ends."

The Greek equivalent in Revelation 7:1 is gonia. The Greek meaning is perhaps more closely related to our modern divisions known as quadrants. Gonia literally means angles, or divisions. It is customary to divide a map into quadrants as shown by the four directions.

Some have tried to ridicule the Bible to say that it teaches that the earth is square. The Scripture makes it quite clear that the earth is a sphere (Isaiah 40:22).

Some have tried to say there are four knobs, or peaks on a round earth. Regardless of the various ways kanaph is translated, it makes reference to EXTREMITIES.

There are many ways in which God the Holy Spirit could have said corner. Any of the following Hebrew words could have been used:


Pinoh is used in reference to the cornerstone.
Paioh means "a geometric corner"
Ziovyoh means "right angle" or "corner"
Krnouth refers to a projecting corner.
Paamouth - If the Lord wanted to convey the idea of a square, four-cornered earth, the Hebrew word paamouth could have been used. Paamouth means square.
Instead, the Holy Spirit selected the word kanaph, conveying the idea of extremity.
It is doubtful that any religious Jew would ever misunderstand the true meaning of kanaph. For nearly 2,000 years, religious Jews have faced the city of Jerusalem three times daily and chanted the following prayer:


Sound the great trumpet for our freedom,
Raise the banner for gathering our exiles,
And gather us together from THE FOUR CORNERS OF THE EARTH
into our own land.

The Book of Isaiah describes how the Messiah, the Root of Jesse, shall regather his people from the four corners of the earth. They shall come from every extremity to be gathered into Israel.

"And in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse,
Who shall stand as a banner to the people;
For the Gentiles shall seek Him,
And His resting place shall be glorious."
It shall come to pass in that day
That the LORD shall set His hand again the second time
To recover the remnant of His people who are left,
From Assyria and Egypt,
From Pathros and Cush,
From Elam and Shinar,
From Hamath and the islands of the sea.
He will set up a banner for the nations,
And will assemble the outcasts of Israel,
And gather together the dispersed of Judah
From THE FOUR CORNERS OF THE EARTH.
(Isaiah 11:10-12, New King James Version)

Answer 4

Well before the discovery of the fact that the earth is round, People believed that the earth was flat ! and that if you go to the edge of an map, you will fall of the earth ! . So thus the expression 4 corners of earth.

Answer 5

Flat Planet: four sides = four corners of the World

Answer 6

I think this expression comes from the fact that maps are and used to be printed on a rectangular piece of paper or parchment.
Another thing is that there are 4 basic directions (I mean N, S, E and W) and they are called corners, too.

Answer 7

At one time people thought the earth was flat. Moreover, mapmakers always made their maps on square (or rectangular) pieces of paper. Thus, you get four corners. Now, of course, it's just a clumsy figure of speech.

Answer 8

The saying probably originated BEFORE it became common knowledge the earth is round.

Answer 9

Even today in some countries there are people who strictly beleive that earth is flat and squire,hence the earth is ......

Answer 10

Because Christopher Columbus said so.