1398, from L.
antipodes "those who dwell on the opposite side of the earth," from Gk.
antipodes, pl. of
antipous "with feet opposite ours," from
anti- "opposite" +
pous "foot" (see
foot), thus people who live on the opposite side of the world. Not to be confused with
antiscii "those who live on the same meridian on opposite side of the equator," whose shadows fall at noon in the opposite direction, from Gk.
anti- +
skia "shadow."
"Yonde in Ethiopia ben the Antipodes, men that haue theyr fete ayenst our fete." ["De Proprietatibus Rerum Bartholomeus Anglicus," translated by John of Trevisa, 1398]