Like the term "Orient", "Orientalism" derives from the Latin word "oriens" (rising) and, equally likely, from the Greek word ('he'oros', the direction of the rising sun). "Orient" is the opposite of "Occident", a term for the Western world. In terms of the Old World, Europe was considered the Occident (the west), and its farthest-known extreme the Orient (the east). Dating from the Roman Empire until the Middle Ages, what is now, in the West, considered 'the Middle East' was then considered 'the Orient'. However, use of the various terms and senses derived from "Orient" has greatly declined in the 20th century, not least as trans-Pacific links between Asia and America have grown; nowadays, Asia usually arrives at the US from the West.