one of the four cardinal points of the world; being that point of the horizon where the sun is seen to rise when in the equinoctial.

The word east is Saxon. In Italy, and throughout the Mediterranean, the east wind is called the levante: in Greek, ηστίαν and ηστίαν, because it comes from the side of the sun, ἀπ' ἡλίου; in Latin curus.