World Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! == Etymology == The [[English language|English]] word ''[[:wikt:world|world]]'' comes from the [[Old English]] {{Lang|ang|weorold}}. The Old English is a reflex of the [[Common Germanic]] ''*''{{Lang|mis|weraldiz}}<!-- Proto-Germanic -->, a compound of {{Lang|mis|weraz}} 'man' and {{Lang|mis|aldiz}} 'age', thus literally meaning roughly 'age of man';<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bartleby.com/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080512075921/http://www.bartleby.com/61/roots/IE588.html|url-status=dead|title=Homework Help and Textbook Solutions | bartleby|archive-date=12 May 2008|website=Bartleby.com}}</ref> this word led to [[Old Frisian]] {{Lang|ofs|warld}}, [[Old Saxon]] {{Lang|osx|werold}}, [[Old Dutch]] {{Lang|odt|werolt}}, [[Old High German]] {{Lang|goh|weralt}}, and [[Old Norse]] {{Lang|non|verǫld}}.<ref>Orel, Vladimir (2003) ''A Handbook of Germanic Etymology'' Leiden: Brill. p. 462 {{ISBN|90-04-12875-1}}.</ref> The corresponding word in [[Latin]] is {{Lang|la|mundus}}, literally 'clean, elegant', itself a [[Calque|loan translation]] of Greek ''[[cosmos]]'' 'orderly arrangement'. While the Germanic word thus reflects a mythological notion of a "domain of Man" (compare [[Midgard]]), presumably as opposed to the divine sphere on the one hand and the [[chthonic]] sphere of the underworld on the other, the Greco-Latin term expresses a notion of [[Creation myth|creation]] as an act of establishing order out of [[chaos (cosmogony)|chaos]].<ref name="Lewis" /> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page