The following table gives a rough equivalence of the classical 12-wind rose with the modern compass directions (Note: the directions are imprecise since it is not clear at what angles the classical winds are supposed to be with each other some have argued that they should be equally spaced at 30 degrees each for more details, see the article on Classical compass winds). During the Migration Period, the Germanic names for the cardinal directions entered the Romance languages, where they replaced the Latin names borealis with north, australis with south, occidentalis with west and orientalis with east. 830), the Frankish king Charlemagne himself came up with his own names for the classical 12 winds. Classical 12-wind rose, with Greek (blue) and Latin (red) names (from Seneca)Īccording to the chronicler Einhard ( c. The De architectura of the Roman architect Vitruvius describes 24 winds. Septentrio, Subsolanus, Auster, Favonius, etc. Seneca, Pliny) adopted the Greek 12-wind system, and replaced its names with Latin equivalents, e.g. Eratosthenes deducted two winds from Aristotle's system, to produce the classical eight-wind rose. To restore balance, Timosthenes of Rhodes added two more winds to produce the classical 12-wind rose, and began using the winds to denote geographical direction in navigation. In his meteorological studies, Aristotle identified ten distinct winds: two north–south winds ( Aparctias, Notos) and four sets of east–west winds blowing from different latitudes-the Arctic circle ( Meses, Thrascias), the summer solstice horizon ( Caecias, Argestes), the equinox ( Apeliotes, Zephyrus) and the winter solstice ( Eurus, Lips). Nonetheless, both systems were gradually conflated, and wind names came eventually to denote cardinal directions as well. The four Greek winds ( Boreas, Notos, Eurus, Zephyrus) were confined to meteorology. The four Greek cardinal points ( arctos, anatole, mesembria and dusis) were based on celestial bodies and used for orientation. The ancient Greeks originally maintained distinct and separate systems of points and winds.

Most mobile populations tend to adopt sunrise and sunset for East and West and the direction from where different winds blow to denote North and South. 'towards the hills', 'towards the sea') or from celestial bodies (especially the sun) or from atmospheric features (winds, temperature). The names given to these directions are usually derived from either locally-specific geographic features (e.g. Linguistic anthropological studies have shown that most human communities have four points of cardinal direction. Today, a form of compass rose is found on, or featured in, almost all navigation systems, including nautical charts, non-directional beacons (NDB), VHF omnidirectional range (VOR) systems, global-positioning systems ( GPS), and similar equipment. It is also the term for the graduated markings found on the traditional magnetic compass. O = Ost, German for 'East'Ī compass rose, sometimes called a wind rose, rose of the winds or compass star, is a figure on a compass, map, nautical chart, or monument used to display the orientation of the cardinal directions ( north, east, south, and west) and their intermediate points. Compass rose with the eight principal winds. Also notice the correspondence between the 32-point rose (inner circle) and the modern 0–360° graduations. Not to be confused with Compass rose network.Ī common compass rose as found on a nautical chart showing both true north (using a nautical star symbol) and magnetic north with magnetic variation.

Nautical telescope drawing