Where does “north” come from?
North derives from Middle English north, from Old English norþ, from Proto-Germanic nurþrą, from Proto-Indo-European ner-, ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European root h₁en.
north (English): One of the four major compass points,...
Definitions
- One of the four major compass points,...
Ancestry of “north”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | Middle English | north | north, northernness; A location to the north; the... |
| 2 | Old English | norþ | north |
| 3 | Proto-Germanic | nurþrą | north, northern; north, northward |
| 4 | Proto-Germanic | nurþraz | north, northern |
| 5 | Proto-Indo-European | *nér | — |
Words derived from “north”