mundo

Forms

mundo m (plural mundos)^[1] A popular form mondo must have existed beside it: Corominas restores it for the rhyme in the Auto de los Reyes Magos.^[2] Asturian has mundiu.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish mundo, inherited from Latin mundus (“world”), kept in a semi-learned form.^[2][3][1] A fully popular development would have given mondo, which Corominas finds in the Auto de los Reyes Magos, but the learned form of church sermons soon replaced it, as in Portuguese mundo.^[2][1] Catalan món and Italian mondo look popular, while French monde is also semi-learned beside mont, which it ousted.^[2][4] The Asturian form mundiu follows the Leonese sound pattern.^[2]

According to the Academy, the Latin word in the sense “world” is a calque of Ancient Greek κόσμος (kósmos, “order; ornament; world”).^[5] Wiktionary also calls this sense a semantic loan from the Greek word, and mentions a possible link with Etruscan 𐌌𐌖𐌍𐌈 (munθ), an Etruscan word of unknown meaning.^[1] De Vaan is unsure that the Latin noun for the sky and the world and its homonym for a woman's toilet articles are the same word, though their meanings are close, and thinks the Latin usage may have been shaped by the Greek word.^[6] Gómez de Silva derives the sense “world” from “adornment” through the Greek word.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, known from a 14th-century copy) has it in a prayer: „Tú eres rey de los reyes e de tod el mundo padre” “you are king of kings and father of all the world”.^[8][2] The first record in a manuscript of its own time is the Semejanza del mundo of about 1223, which uses it for the whole earth.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The word was in general use from the start, in Berceo, the Libro de Apolonio, Juan Ruiz and Don Juan Manuel.^[2] Alfonso X's Lapidario uses it for everything that exists.^[9] Nebrija glossed it as Latin mundus and noted that it properly meant the sky.^[10] Covarrubias in 1611 listed the earth and sea, the life of those who care only for temporal things, the instability of fortune, a crowd of people and a great quantity (un mundo de dinero), and the Nuevo Mundo.^[11] Autoridades has the same senses of the universe, the earth and a great quantity.^[12]

The phrase todo el mundo “everybody” has been called a gallicism, but Corominas shows that it is both medieval and classical: it grew out of phrases such as Berceo's que podrié todo el mundo siempre de mí reyr, and is already a set phrase in Juan Ruiz.^[2] In Christian teaching the world is one of the three enemies of the soul, a sense in the Academy's dictionary since 1884.^[13][5] In Peru and Bolivia mundo is also a children's game like hopscotch, and in Panama and Colombia a great amount.^[14][1]

Timeline

• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid calls God father of all the world.^[8][2][3]
• c. 1180 – the Auto de los Reyes Magos, where the rhyme suggests the popular form mondo.^[2]
• c. 1223 – the Semejanza del mundo, the first record in a contemporary manuscript.^[8]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario speaks of all the things of the world.^[9]
• c. 1440 – the derivative mundial, rare until the early 20th century.^[2][3]
• 1520 – the first record from the Americas, in Cuba.^[15]
• 1611 – Covarrubias lists the Nuevo Mundo and the phrase un mundo de dinero.^[11]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives the etymology “Del lat. mundus”.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. The universe, everything that exists.^[5][1]
2. All human beings, humankind; human society: Medio mundo vio el partido.^[5][1]
3. A part of society marked by something its members share: el mundo del cine.^[5]
4. A particular area of reality or of thought: el mundo vegetal.^[5]
5. The circle a person moves in.^[5][1]
6. Secular life, as opposed to religious life.^[5]
7. Experience of life and of dealing with people: Es un hombre de mucho mundo.^[5]
8. The earth, the planet humans live on; any planet thought to be inhabited.^[5][1]
9. (Christianity) One of the three enemies of the soul, tempting people with pleasure and wealth.^[5]
10. (rare) A globe representing the earth.^[5]
11. (Peru, Bolivia) A children's game like hopscotch.^[14][1]
12. (Panama, Colombia, colloquial) A great amount of something.^[14]

Word family

• mundano
• mundial
• mundillo
• trotamundos
• mundanal
• mundonuevo

Related words

• inmundo
• Latin mundus
• Portuguese mundo
• Catalan món

Usage notes

Todo el mundo means “everybody”, with a verb in the singular.^[2][5] The Italian mondi nuovi gave the compound mundinovi, later mundonuevo, a peep show.^[2][3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 187
3. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. mundo
4. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. monde
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. mundo
6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
7. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 478
8. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. mundo
9. ^ a b Kasten, Lloyd A.; Nitti, John J.; Gago Jover, Francisco (2002–), Diccionario de la prosa castellana del Rey Alfonso X, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (electronic edition 2024), p. s.v. mundo
10. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 384
11. ^ a b Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 1154
12. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. s.v. mundo
13. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 727
14. ^ a b c Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. mundo
15. ^ Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, p. s.v. mundo