Doğa, doğum, doğru

No other language expresses the relationship between East and South more eloquently than Turkish – doğa 'nature', doğum 'birth' and doğru 'true' point to the Sun's cradle doğu 'East' in the same manner sağlık 'health', sağlam 'solid' and sağlamak 'provide' hint at sağ 'the right hand', the side – as one faces East – pointing South, the Sun's throne providing plants, animals and humans with life, energy and optimism. No wonder Sağ ol! 'Thank you!' literally means 'Be healthy!' and güney 'South' derives from gün, which originally denoted the Sun before connoting the day, leaving the former with the novel appelation of güneş. Curiously, south itself is a development of Germanic sunþ-.