Odp: Latin Mundus

From: Piotr Gasiorowski
Message: 499
Date: 1999-12-08

 
----- Original Message -----
From: Gwydionash@...
To: cybalist@egroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, December 08, 1999 9:42 PM
Subject: [cybalist] Latin Mundus

Could someone tell me if Latin mundus ("world, universe") is IE in origin, 
and if so, what the PIE root is?

Chad Brown
The original meaning of mundus was 'adornment, decoration, toilet ornaments', hence 'the heavens and the celestial bodies, kosmos', and finally 'the world, the earth'. If mundus < *mondos, it could be IE. Sanskrit maND- (N and D stand for postalveolars), maNDayati, pp. maNDita means 'deck, adorn, embellish, glorify' (a very tentative etymology, to be sure; the phonological match isn't perfect).
 
Piotr