Here’s an interesting thought experiment: using only words, how would you describe turning something “clockwise” to someone who’s never seen an analog clock? You could possibly refer to the movement of the sun in the sky, but you’d have to know whether you’re standing in the northern or southern hemisphere. As a particularly irritating extension to the thought experiment, imagine you’re composing a text message to send to aliens on another planet (assume they understand English), and never mind “clockwise,” you just want to explain left and right.
It won’t help with the underlying problem of these explanations, but if analog clocks ever disappear completely, English already has terms at hand to substitute for “clockwise” and “anticlockwise (or “counterclockwise”). “Clockwise,” or turning to the right, can also be called “deasil.” It’s also spelled “deiseal,” and comes from Gaelic. The ancient Celts believed it was good luck to walk around an object three times in the same direction as the sun moved, and they’re the ones who called it “deasil:” “At marriages and baptisms they made a procession round the church, Deasoil, i.e., sunways” (1761).
“Deasil” has become a pretty rare word, although it still pops up occasionally. Its opposite is equally obscure: “widdershins.” By coincidence, “widdershins” also has an alternate spelling: “withershins.” It not only means “counterclockwise,” but in the same way that “left” has for ages been considered bad luck, inferior, or evil, “widdershins” also means “the wrong way.” It might have been so alarming, long ago, that people’s hair stood on end because they were so frightened, because that’s yet another meaning of “widdershins:” hair standing on end. “His hair standing Widdershins in his head” (1685).
“Widdershins” comes from ancient German roots, where “wither” meant bad or hostile, and “shins” is actually a form of “sin,” as in doing something evil. In fact, given its pedigree, it’s surprising “widdershins” doesn’t mean something much worse than just turning in an unlucky direction.
Both deasil and widdershins are pretty close to obsolete by now, but who knows — analog clocks are getting rarer too, so at some point we really might need a replacement term for “clockwise.” Now, back to how to explain “left” and “right” to an alien using only words…(I don’t think it’s possible, by the way).
