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Re: Why four cardinal compass points?
From: Joshua Carty
Date: 2026 Sep 30, 08:51 -0700
From: Joshua Carty
Date: 2026 Sep 30, 08:51 -0700
Tibor, you said that in your language, East and West are derived from words for waking and going to rest (REST is WEST), respectivly. I remember reading about Mau Pialug's Micronesian (?) star compass which has now spread across Polynesia as a replacement for their lost similar concept, as I understand it. Their compass has words for the rising SIDE of the sky. It's not the same as the cardinal point "East". I think it's more like the English expression "the East" like when we say the Sun rises "in the East". That doesn't mean the Sun rises at the cardinal point (it doesn't and nitpickers sometimes get caught up on that). It rises on the RISING SIDE of the sky, like the Polynesian idea of East.
Josh






