"world" in seven languages
Meaningworld
Spanish
/ˈmundo/
masc.learned
Semi-learned: short Ŭ would regularly give o (compare Italian mondo); church usage preserved the u.
French
/mɔ̃d/
masc.inherited
Also 'people': il y a du monde 'it's crowded'.
Italian
/ˈmondo/
masc.inherited
Portuguese
/ˈmũdu/
masc.learned
Semi-learned like Spanish mundo: inherited short Ŭ would have given o.
Romanian
/ˈlume/
fem.other source · Latin LŪMEN 'light'
Christian Latin spoke of the world of the living as 'the light'.
Catalan
/mon/
masc.inherited
Catalan simplified -nd- and dropped the final vowel: MUNDUM → món.
English
/wɝld/
native English · Old English weorold
Watch out: false friends
lume (Italian) means “lamp, light” · lume (Romanian) means “world; people”
Both from Latin LŪMEN 'light'. Romanian shifted it to 'world' after Slavic světъ, which meant both; toată lumea is 'everybody'. Italian kept the light.
The Latin ancestor
MUNDUM‘world, universe; also 'clean, orderly' (adj.)’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
MUNDUS translated Greek kósmos, 'order' — the world as an arranged whole. French tout le monde, 'everybody', is literally 'all the world'.
English relatives: mundane
Sound laws at work
Learn it
In a sentence
- esHa viajado por todo el mundo.
- frElle a voyagé dans le monde entier.
- itHa viaggiato in tutto il mondo.
- ptEla viajou pelo mundo todo.
- roA călătorit prin toată lumea.
- caHa viatjat per tot el món.
- enShe has travelled all over the world.