– (Pablo Mayer)
ILLUSTRATES Pablo Mayer
The expression “four corners of the planet” has no origin in geometric logic (considering as “corner” any intersection between two straight lines, as a corner).
It is believed, in fact, that it is a metaphor for the main known orientations of meaning: the north, south, east and west cardinal points. This is what would justify expressions like “I know the four corners of the planet” and “I’ve traveled from north to south”.
+ Why is the expression “seven seas” used if the seas are far more than seven?
+ Why does the Earth rotate in a west-east direction?
Records of this expression are ancient, long before man was even scientifically sure that the planet was spherical. Depending on the translation version of the Biblethe expression appears, for example, in the book Apocalypse: “After that, I saw four Angels, one in each corner of the Earth” (Apocalypse 7:1).
Another controversial issue is the origin of the word “canto”. For example: why are the flowerbeds on the avenues given that name, if they are not located in the corners? Again, there is no spatial relationship between the name and what it designates. QWhen the first flowerbeds appeared, they were not associated with pieces of land, but with stones. According to the dictionary Houaiss, one of the meanings of the word corner is stone. Therefore, the first heaps of stones from the works are called construction sites.