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South
 
 
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South is one of the cardinal directions and is opposite to the north
North

North is one of the four cardinal directions, specifically the direction that, in Western culture, is treated as the fundamental direction:...
.

By Western
Western world

The term Western world, the West or the Occident can have multiple meanings dependent on its context . Accordingly, the basic definition of what constitutes "the West" varies, expanding and contracting over time, in relation to various historical circumstances....
 convention
Norm (sociology)

A Social norm is the sociology term for the behavioral expectations and cues within a society or group. They have been defined as "the rules that a group uses for appropriate and inappropriate values, beliefs, attitudes and behaviors....
, the bottom side of a map
Map

A map is a visual representation of an area?a symbolic depiction highlighting relationships between elements of that space such as Object , regions, and topic-comment....
 is south; the southern direction has azimuth
Azimuth

An Azimuth is the angle from a reference vector space in a reference plane to a second vector in the same plane, pointing toward, , something of interest....
 or bearing
Bearing (navigation)

In marine navigation, a bearing is the direction of one object in relation to another object, the other object usually being one's own vessel....
 of 180°.

True south is the direction towards the southern end of the axis about which the earth
Earth

Earth is the third planet from the Sun. Earth is the largest of the terrestrial planets in the Solar System in diameter, mass and density. It is also referred to as the World and Wiktionary:Terra.Note that by International Astronomical Union convention, the term "Terra" is used for naming extensive land masses, rather...
 rotates, called the South Pole
South Pole

The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole or Terrestrial South Pole, is one of the two points where the Earth's rotation intersects the surface....
 and located in Antarctica
Antarctica

Antarctica is Earth's southernmost continent, overlying the South Pole. It is situated in the Antarctica of the southern hemisphere, almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle, and is surrounded by the Southern Ocean....
. Magnetic south
Magnetic South

Magnetic South could refer to* Magnetic South Pole* South Pole* Magnetic South an album from Michael Nesmith...
 is the direction towards the south magnetic pole
Earth's magnetic field

Earth's magnetic field is approximately a magnetic dipole, with one magnetic pole near the north pole and the other near the geographic south pole ....
, some distance away from the south geographic pole.

Etymology
The etymology
Etymology

Etymology is the study of the roots and history of words; and how their form and meaning have changed over time.In languages with a long detailed history, etymology makes use of philology, the study of how words change from culture to culture over time....
 of "south" comes the Old English
Old English language

Old English is an early form of the English language that was spoken and written in parts of what are now England and south-eastern Scotland between the mid-5th century and the mid-12th century....
 word suth, related to the Old High German
Old High German

The term Old High German refers to the earliest stage of the German language and it conventionally covers the period from around 500 to 1050. Coherent written texts do not appear until the second half of the 8th century, and some treat the period before 750 as 'prehistoric' and date the start of Old High German proper to 750 for this reason...
 word sund, and perhaps sunne in Old English, with the sense of "the region of the sun
Sun

The Sun , a G V star, is the star at the center of the Solar System. The Earth and other matter orbit the Sun, which by itself accounts for about 98.6% of the Solar System's mass....
" (sun culminates in the south in the northern hemisphere).

"The South
The South

The South may refer to:...
" usually refers to "regions or countries lying to the south of a specified or implied point of orientation, especially the southeastern part of the United States", i.






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Encyclopedia


South is one of the cardinal directions and is opposite to the north
North

North is one of the four cardinal directions, specifically the direction that, in Western culture, is treated as the fundamental direction:...
.

By Western
Western world

The term Western world, the West or the Occident can have multiple meanings dependent on its context . Accordingly, the basic definition of what constitutes "the West" varies, expanding and contracting over time, in relation to various historical circumstances....
 convention
Norm (sociology)

A Social norm is the sociology term for the behavioral expectations and cues within a society or group. They have been defined as "the rules that a group uses for appropriate and inappropriate values, beliefs, attitudes and behaviors....
, the bottom side of a map
Map

A map is a visual representation of an area?a symbolic depiction highlighting relationships between elements of that space such as Object , regions, and topic-comment....
 is south; the southern direction has azimuth
Azimuth

An Azimuth is the angle from a reference vector space in a reference plane to a second vector in the same plane, pointing toward, , something of interest....
 or bearing
Bearing (navigation)

In marine navigation, a bearing is the direction of one object in relation to another object, the other object usually being one's own vessel....
 of 180°.

True south is the direction towards the southern end of the axis about which the earth
Earth

Earth is the third planet from the Sun. Earth is the largest of the terrestrial planets in the Solar System in diameter, mass and density. It is also referred to as the World and Wiktionary:Terra.Note that by International Astronomical Union convention, the term "Terra" is used for naming extensive land masses, rather...
 rotates, called the South Pole
South Pole

The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole or Terrestrial South Pole, is one of the two points where the Earth's rotation intersects the surface....
 and located in Antarctica
Antarctica

Antarctica is Earth's southernmost continent, overlying the South Pole. It is situated in the Antarctica of the southern hemisphere, almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle, and is surrounded by the Southern Ocean....
. Magnetic south
Magnetic South

Magnetic South could refer to* Magnetic South Pole* South Pole* Magnetic South an album from Michael Nesmith...
 is the direction towards the south magnetic pole
Earth's magnetic field

Earth's magnetic field is approximately a magnetic dipole, with one magnetic pole near the north pole and the other near the geographic south pole ....
, some distance away from the south geographic pole.

Etymology


The etymology
Etymology

Etymology is the study of the roots and history of words; and how their form and meaning have changed over time.In languages with a long detailed history, etymology makes use of philology, the study of how words change from culture to culture over time....
 of "south" comes the Old English
Old English language

Old English is an early form of the English language that was spoken and written in parts of what are now England and south-eastern Scotland between the mid-5th century and the mid-12th century....
 word suth, related to the Old High German
Old High German

The term Old High German refers to the earliest stage of the German language and it conventionally covers the period from around 500 to 1050. Coherent written texts do not appear until the second half of the 8th century, and some treat the period before 750 as 'prehistoric' and date the start of Old High German proper to 750 for this reason...
 word sund, and perhaps sunne in Old English, with the sense of "the region of the sun
Sun

The Sun , a G V star, is the star at the center of the Solar System. The Earth and other matter orbit the Sun, which by itself accounts for about 98.6% of the Solar System's mass....
" (sun culminates in the south in the northern hemisphere).

"The South
The South

The South may refer to:...
" usually refers to "regions or countries lying to the south of a specified or implied point of orientation, especially the southeastern part of the United States", i. e. the Southern United States
Southern United States

The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive region in the southeastern and south-central United States....
 and mainly the Deep South
Deep South

The Deep South is a descriptive category of cultural and geographic subregions in the Southern United States. Historically, it is differentiated from the "Upper South" as being the states which were most dependent on plantation type agriculture during the antebellum period....
, in a general historical context. The South is also used for "the developing nations of the world", i. e. the third world
Third World

Third World is a categorical label used to describe states that are considered to be developed in terms of their economy or level of industrialization, globalization, standard of living, health, education or other criteria for 'advancements'....
: see North-South divide
North-South divide

The North-South Divide is the socioeconomics and politics division that exists between the wealthy developed country, known collectively as "the North", and the poorer developing countries , or "the South." Although most nations comprising the "North" are in fact located in the Northern Hemisphere, the divide is not primarily defined by geog...
.

Other languages have sometimes more interesting derivations. For example, in Rutul
Rutul language

Rutul is a language spoken by the Rutuls, an ethnic group living in Dagestan and some parts of Azerbaijan. The word Rutul derives from the name of a Dagestani village where speakers of this language make up the majority....
 jennet can mean both 'paradise' and 'south', because of the tribe's belief that paradise is located in the south of the Rutuls' lands. In many languages of Mesoamerica
Mesoamerica

Mesoamerica or Meso-America is a region and cultural area in the Americas, extending approximately from central Mexico to Honduras and Nicaragua, within which a number of pre-Columbian society flourished before the Spanish colonization of the Americas in the 15th and 16th centuries....
, 'south' means also 'down'.