how are directions given to earth as east west north and south?

Question

based on what the directions of earth are decided. Why sun rising direction is taken as east but not west or something other

Answer 1

you ever here that saying " a rose but any other name would smell as sweet"?

humans labeled the directions north, south, east, and west. If they had used other names, say, stapler instead of east, and blotter for west, the sun would rise in the stapler, and set in the blotter.

Answer 2

North and south are defined by the earth's magnetic poles, which is why a compass is useful for locating them. The location of polaris, a star that is aligned with the earth's axis, was like an early compass that gave the poles their name. East and west were names given to the observation that the sun "moved" in a certain direction all the time. To answer your question, our ancestors saw a pattern of phenomena about direction and its relationship between the movement of the earth (or sun in those days) and assigned names for what was observed.

The etymology for the original names for the cardinal directions in the western world are greek and latin adjectives for gods and goddesses said to protect or inhabit that direction relative to visible constellations and the perceived movement of the sun across the daytime sky. Borealis (think the aurora borealis in the arctic) and then the Old High German nord, and the Proto-Indo-European unit ner-, meaning "left" (or "under"). (Presumably a natural primitive description of its concept is "to the left of the rising sun".) [wikpedia], australis (think Australia in the southern hemisphere), eos (occidentalis) (east, from the greek goddess of dawn), and orientalis, (from the goddess of night)

Germanic names replaced the latin names, which gave us north, south, east and west. Other cultures do not use our naming system. Some American Indian cultures or First Nations use a color naming system based on sacred spots or the cardinal directions. Up and downstream (the Nile) was used in ancient Egypt, but they had a grasp on cardinal directions based on the orientation of the pyramids.

In a nutshell, we call the directions what we call them based on historical etymology, ancient words for dawn and dusk, etc.

Answer 3

I'm not sure I understand your question but the designations of North, South, East and West are determined by the polarity earth which is cause by the earth's rotation.

If you take a ball and spin it on a desk, the top of the ball is the north pole and the bottom is the south poll. If you are facing north, the direction to your left is designated "west" and the direction to your right is designated "east."

There is a magnetic pull towards the North Pole, compass needles point towards it because of that magnetism.

Answer 4

The etymology of "east" is from an old Proto-Indo-European language word for dawn. Cf. Latin aurora and Greek eōs. Eostre, a Germanic goddess of dawn, might have been a personification of both dawn and the cardinal point.

The English word "west" is cognate to the Old High German word westar, which may derive from an Indo-European root from which the Latin word vesper, meaning "evening", derives.

The word north is traced to the Old High German nord, and the Proto-Indo-European unit ner-, meaning "left" (or "under"). (Presumably a natural primitive description of its concept is "to the left of the rising sun".)

The etymology of South can be traced back to the Old English word suth, related to the Old High German word sund, and perhaps sunne in Old English with sense of "the region of the sun."

Answer 5

The directions were taken from ancient mariners. They descend by tradition and definition. They were named when it was thought the Sun moved around the Earth.

Answer 6

It was given like this:North ice
West cosy
South hot
East burning

it was discovered by isaac newton after he discovered gravity,he discovered after gravity by two weeks after death

Answer 7

a compass will always point to magnetic north or the north pole while in northern hemisphere.