Etymology: < north-east adv. Compare Middle French nortester (1579; French (rare) nordester ). Compare earlier north-easting n.

Etymology: Cognate with or formed similarly to West Frisian noardeast (compare Old Frisian northāstera , adjective), Old Dutch northōst (Middle Dutch nortoost , noortoost , Dutch noordoost ), Middle Low German nōrtōst < the Germanic base of north adv. + the Germanic base of east adv. Compare also German Nordost, Icelandic norðaustur, Norwegian (Bokmål) nordost, Swedish nordost, Danish nordøst, †nordost, and (after forms in English or in other Germanic languages) Old French northest (c1175; Middle French, French nordest), Spanish nordeste (a1449), †nordest (1587), Portuguese nordeste (15th cent.), Italian nordest (1561).Compare also Old English norðanēastan from the north-east ( < northen adv. + easten adv.; compare Middle Dutch nortoosten- , Old Saxon northōstan- (Middle Low German nōrtōsten- ), Old High German nordōstan- , all in compounds with the word for wind , Old High German nordōstan , noun). With sense B. 2 compare Old English norðanēastan wind . The adjectival use in English apparently developed from the Old English use of the adverb stem as the first element of compounds (compare discussion at north adv., adj., and n.). The modern English system of compass points comprising four cardinal points bisected by four intermediate points denominated by compounds (north-east , south-east , south-west , north-west ) was in use at least by the early 12th cent. It superseded an older twelve-point system (with its origin in the twelve winds of antiquity) in which each quadrant was subdivided by two intermediate points at 30° intervals (again denominated by compounds: north-east , east-north ; east-south , south-east ; south-west , west-south ; west-north , north-west , although it is unclear with what degree of exactitude these terms were applied, as the surviving texts evince much confusion); see further A. K. Brown ‘The English Compass Points’ in Medium Ævum 47 (1978) 221–46. In the older twelve-point system the companion point to north-east in the north-eastern quadrant was denominated east-north (compare Old High German ōstnord , noun); the compound is attested in Old English, and survives into Middle English:eOE Épinal Gloss. (1974) 10 Boreus, eastnorþwind.eOE tr. Orosius Hist. (BL Add.) (1980) i. i. 12 Ryhte be eastan him sindon Bæme, & eastnorþ sindon Þyringa[s].?c1475 Catholicon Anglicum (BL Add. 15562) f. 42 Est northe.Compare also Old English ēast-norðerne , adjective, (of a wind) blowing from the north-east (cognate with or formed similarly to Old High German ōstnordrōni < the Germanic base of east adv. + the Germanic base of northern adj.), and Old English ēastan-norðan (adverb) from the north-east (also ēastan-norðan-wind , wind blowing from the north-east) ( < easten adv. + northen adv.; compare Old High German ōstannord, noun, Old Swedish östannordhan (adverb) in or to the north-east, östannordhanvädher wind blowing from the north-east, östannörre (adjective) north-eastern).