Re: quo meridies ivit?

Aren't we all forgetting Fr. midi, It. mezzogiorno, as referring to the
southern part of their respective countries?  Of course they actually mean
mid-day; but wasn't that also the original meaning of meridies?  What about
Lat. australis and borealis?
(Boreas IIRC was the god of the north wind??)

"Ease of use" (one or two syllables vs. many) is never a convincing
argument, but it strikes me as a possibility here-- from sailor's jargon.
Surely a shouted "Nort(e)!" is more likely to be heard/understood over ship
and weather background noise than "Septentrio!"......??

Ml/Indonesian has an interesting set:  N: utara (Indic, as in modern "Uttar
Pradesh" province), S: selatan (<selat 'interval = straits' with locative
nominalization, presumably referring to the Straits of Malacca); E:  timur
(no etymol.); W:  barat --tempting to relate it to Indic bharat 'India', BUT
it goes back to Proto AN (so antedates IE in India) *habaRat probably 'west
monsoon', and with velar, not dental /R/.  In various parts of the AN world,
it can also mean north or east, depending on which wind prevails).  Ml. also
has a specific term for SE, tenggara (no etymol.).

ObConlang:  Kash N: andra, S: umbrik, E: aros, W: ures.  No etymol. at the
moment.