The French words ‘nord’ and ‘sud’ look a lot like English ‘north’ and ‘south’.

That’s not a coincidence: it’s because Old French borrowed these words from Old English ‘norþ’ and ‘sūþ’ – along with ‘est’ and ‘ouest’, which come from ‘ēast’ and ‘west’.

My new infographic tells you all about the fascinating theories about the history of ‘north’, ‘south’ and their cognates.

Next time: east and west.