992: Levant Aug 27, 2017

There are plenty of names for countries or regions that originate from geographical relation to other places. The words 'Austria' and 'Australia' both etymologically derive from the Latin for 'south', and 'the orient' as well as the German for 'Austria', 'Österreich', both etymologically derive from words meaning 'east'. Likewise, the 'Levant', denoting the area east of the Mediterranean Sea, comes from a French word that gained the sense of 'east'. Initially however, the French 'levant' meant and continues to mean 'rising' as a participle of 'lever' (which is where English gets 'lever') meaning 'to lift'. It is from the understanding that the Sun rises in the east that 'levant' became associated with lands to the east, at least in relation to France and England. Indeed, the meaning of 'to rise' relating to the Sun is the same that lead to 'orient' and 'orientation', from the Latin 'oriri' meaning 'to rise'.