Etymologically
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mundanus

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [mʊnˈdaː.nʊs][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [munˈdaː.nus][1]

Forms

mundānus (feminine mundāna, neuter mundānum); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin mundus (“world, universe”) + -ānus.[2][1][3] Etymonline notes that this mundus is identical in form with mundus “clean, elegant”.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cicero, in the Tusculan Disputations, reports that Socrates, asked what country he belonged to, answered “of the world”.[2][5] The TLL says Cicero coined it once to translate the Greek, and Köbler dates him 81–43 BC.[3][6]

Semantic evolution

As a noun in Cicero it meant a citizen of the world, a cosmopolite.[7][8] After Cicero it is found from Apuleius on, who uses it of the revolution of the universe, and Christian writers liked it.[3][2] Macrobius speaks of the world-soul and of the world year of fifteen thousand years, and the Historia Augusta of a natural disaster, an earthquake.[7][8]

In Christian and medieval Latin it meant of this world, secular, human or earthly, and lex mundana was secular law as opposed to church law.[9][6] Medieval writers also used musica mundana for the music of the spheres.[10] English mundane is recorded in the mid-15th century as “of this world, worldly”.[4]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of Socrates, a citizen of the world.[2][6]
  • c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius uses it of the universe.[2][6]
  • 1st half of the 5th century AD – Macrobius speaks of the world year.[7][6]
  • mid-15th century – English mundane is recorded.[4]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Of the universe, cosmic.[2][10]
  2. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Of this world, worldly, secular, mundane.[9][1]

Noun

  1. A citizen of the world, cosmopolitan.[2][7]

Word family

  • extramundanus
  • ultrāmundānus

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  9. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  10. ^ a b Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press