Nan is composed of an old word meaning abundant vegetation (q.d. the south), with 羊 yang sheep inserted as phonetic. It is now classed under radical 十 shih ten. The south is the standard point, as the north with us, of the mariner's compass, which has been known to the Chinese since the 12th cent. A.D., and is said to have been developed from a legendary "south-pointing chariot" given to tribute-bearing envoys from Tongking more than a thousand years B.C. Chinese houses are as far as possible duly oriented, facing the south.