In the Duden article "nach", we read:
Bedeutungen, Beispiele und Wendungen
1c. zu … hin, in
Grammatik: räumlich
Gebrauch: landschaftlich
Beispiele
- nach dem (in den) Süden fahren
- nach (zur) Oma gehen
Does it mean that "nach dem Osten" is always incorrect, or at least "landschaftlich"? I ask this question because "nach dem Osten" is in many (apparently serious) books available on Google books. Perhaps it was correct some decades ago?
Edit: As I thought, "landschaftlich" means "regional". It seems to me that a "landschaftlich" use is somewhat less correct than an universal use. In a State document, for example, one shouldn't expect a word used in a regional meaning. That's the reason of my question.
Edit: To make my question clearer : according to Duden, "nach dem Osten" is "landschaftlich" when used in the meaning of "in den Osten". But perhaps there are cases when "nach dem Osten" is used in another sense than "in den Osten". If I'm not wrong, "nach Osten" doesn't have exactly the same meaning as "in den Osten". Thus "nach Osten" is not regional (correct me if I am wrong). So I wonder if "nach dem Osten" can be used exactly in the same meaning as "nach Osten", and thus (in this hypothesis) whithout regionalism. For example, I presume that the famous expression "Drang nach Osten" is not a regionalism. But we also encounter "Drang nach dem Osten" : is that a regionalism ?