- Among Incas left-handers were called lloq’e which has positive value. Peoples of the Andes consider left-handers to possess special spiritual abilities, including magic and healing.
- In tantra Buddhism, the left hand represents wisdom.
- In early Roman times, the left side retained a positive connotation, as the Augures proceeded from the eastern side.
- The negative meaning was subsequently borrowed into Latin from Greek, and ever since in all Romance languages.
- In Russian, “levsha” (lefty, lefthander) became a common noun for skilled craftsman, after the title character from “The Tale of Cross-eyed Lefty from Tula and the Steel Flea” written in 1881 by Nikolai Leskov.