Etymologically
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mundialis

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [mʊn.diˈaː.lɪs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [mun.diˈaː.lis][1]

Forms

mundiālis (neuter mundiāle); third-declension two-termination adjective[1] Also spelled mundalis in some manuscripts.[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin mundus2 (“world”) + -ālis,[1][3] formed like māteriālis (“material”), according to the TLL.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Tertullian, who speaks in On the Spectacles of mundialia elementa, the elements of the world,[3][4] around AD 160–220.[5]

Semantic evolution

It is a word of Christian writers: the TLL finds it in pagan literature only in Julius Valerius, and among Church writers from Tertullian on, fairly often, including the poets Prudentius and Sedulius.[2] It usually meant “of this world” with contempt, in the sense of secular, natural or pagan:[2] Jerome speaks of mundialia negotia, worldly business,[3] and Sulpicius Severus calls secular historians historici mundiales.[3][6]

Medieval writers kept both senses, “of this world, secular” and “of the universe”,[7] the latter especially in machina mundialis, the fabric of the universe.[8] As a noun it named an inhabitant of this world, and in the neuter plural worldly things.[8] In New Latin it also means global.[1]

Timeline

  • c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian writes of mundialia elementa.[3][5]
  • c. 383–419/420 AD – Jerome writes of mundialia negotia.[3][5]
  • c. 363–c. 420 AD – Sulpicius Severus calls secular historians historici mundiales.[6][5]
  • 1338 – A letter in an Oxford formulary wishes that tota machina mundialis rise in praise of the Creator.[8]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. (Late Latin, Ecclesiastical) Of this world, worldly, mundane, secular; often disparaging, of what is natural or pagan rather than spiritual.[2][3][9][7]
  2. (Late Latin) Of the world or the universe; cosmic.[7][8]
  3. (Medieval Latin, as a noun) An inhabitant of this world; in the neuter plural, worldly affairs.[8]
  4. (New Latin) Global, worldwide.[1]

Word family

  • supermundialis

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  7. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  8. ^ a b c d e 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
  9. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson