Fox Moon wrote: > > > one responded with the conclusion that since the coordinates are E,W,S,N > it must have been made in an English-speaking country. I am embarrassed > to say this never occurred to me and now seems so obvious -- but, does
In Brazil it is still customary do use "W" for "Oeste". This is so because the Oeste (West) came from anglo-saxon West via French Ouest but the abbreviation came directly from the compasses. The same is true about East. In Portuguese you can use both L and E. E comes from "Este" which comes from East. L comes from Leste that comes from French "L'est". The same is true about South (Sul) and North (Norte). So, even today, compasses and sundials designed in Brazil could still have the indications "E/W/S/N". The further we go back in time the more likely to find these letters. As most of you probabily know, Brasilia looks like an airplane (the designer saw it first as a cross and than as a bow and arrow -- but who can fight against modernity?). Blocks are named according to a very simple code: 1 to 16 South and 1 to 16 North or 100/900 West, 200/800 East. So if the firt digit is odd, it is West; it it is even, it is East. So, 115 North is Northeast while 205 South is Southeast. The streets are named accordingly. And here is the point: West is still "W" although East is "L". Don't ask me why. So, streets the run in the North/South direction and lie to East of the main "axis" are named L1, L2...L5... and those that lie to the West of the same axis are named W1, W2... W3... This long dissertation to show how "W" is still used in Brazil in place of "O". I also have facsimiles of some Portuguese and Spanish maps drawn in the 1600's. As far as I can remember (I don't have them here with me) the wind roses are marked with W/E/N/S. I would guess the Spaniards and Portuguese used W/E/N/S for many centuries. The French and Italians too? - fernando PS - I wrote this long message with a bunch of useless information in the hope that some people that are missing messages in this list will have something to chew until something more useful shows up.
