Etymology: Probably < Dutch eest (see oast n.). Compare earlier oast n.

Etymology: < east adv. Compare earlier easter v.¹

Etymology: Cognate with Old Frisian āst , ēst , ōst , also āsta , āste , noun (West Frisian east , oast ), Middle Dutch oost (adverb) in the east, to the east, from the east, (adjective) eastern, in or to the east, (noun) the east (in Old Dutch only in place names, and in northost , suthost ; Dutch oost ), Middle Low German ōst (adverb) to the east, (adjective) eastern, to the east, from the east, in the east, ōst , ōste , noun, Old High German ōst (adverb) in the east, Middle High German ōst , noun, and probably also Old Icelandic aust- as the first element in compounds (e.g. austmaðr : see Ostman n.); see below for further etymology. For cognate forms with different suffixation compare forms cited at eastern adj., easter adj., easten adj., easten adv. and the nouns Middle Dutch oosten (Dutch oosten ), Middle Low German ōsten , Old High German ōstan (Middle High German ōsten , German Osten ), and the adverbs Old Frisian āster to the east, from the east, āsteron to the east, Old Saxon ōstar to the east, Old High German ōstar in the east, to the east (Middle High German ōster in the east), Old Icelandic austr to the east, Old Swedish öster to the east, in the east (Swedish öster ), and compare also (as noun and adverb) Old Icelandic austr , Old Swedish, Swedish öster , Old Danish øster , øst , østen (Danish øster , østen , (now usually) øst ). The English word was borrowed early into French: French est (12th cent. in Anglo-Norman); subsequently also (probably via French) Spanish este (1492 as leste ), Portuguese este , leste (both 15th cent.), Italian est (1561). The Germanic base ultimately shows a suffixed form of an Indo-European base with the probable meaning ‘to become light (in the morning)’, and is ultimately cognate with Sanskrit uṣas dawn, Avestan ušah- , ancient Greek (Ionic and Epic) ἠώς , (Attic) ἕως , classical Latin aurōra , Lithuanian aušra , Latvian †austra , and with a large number of other forms; with the meaning ‘east’ (arising from the east as the position of the rising sun) compare e.g. Latvian austrumi east, †austra vējš eastern wind, Avestan ušastara- eastern; many scholars of Indo-European consider that classical Latin auster south wind, the south (compare austral adj.) is of the same origin, in spite of the difference in meaning.In Old English the word occurs only as an adverb (although compare note below). The adjectival use in English apparently developed from the widespread Old English use of the adverb stem as the first element of compounds (compare examples at senses B. 1, B. 2, B. 5, and also eastdeal n., east end n., east half n., etc.), in which east , having a virtually adjectival force, came by the Middle English period (after the loss of adjectival inflection) to be regarded as a separable word, no different from other adjectives. Compare easten adj. A couple of isolated examples may perhaps show Old English evidence for full adjectival use of ēast (the form ēastan in quot. OE² has alternatively been explained as showing the genitive singular of an otherwise unattested weak feminine noun *ēaste ):OE Vercelli Homilies (1992) xvi. 270 Heofonas..heora steorran to tacne sendon, þæt he ða tungolcræftigan, swa ic ær sægde, þæt of eastan [for eastum, or perh. read eastran] middangearde to dryhtne gelædde, þæt hie to him gebædon.OE Aldhelm Glosses (Brussels 1650) in L. Goossens Old Eng. Glosses of MS Brussels, Royal Libr. 1650 (1974) 269 eoę [tripertitas Indiae provincias] : i. orientis, [right margin] þara eastran, eoe, [left margin] þære eastan [the latter gloss added by a different scribe; perh. read eastran]. The Old English form īest , with mutated stem vowel, perhaps arose as an inferred positive of an unattested quasi-comparative form *īestra , variant of ēastra easter adj. (compare Old Icelandiceystri , comparative form of austr , adjective); compare also Old Englishsȳð , variant of sū̄ð south adv. and see discussion at south adv., adj., n., and prep.