# Light and the world



## Penyafort

While the Romance languages don't seem to have inherited it, one of the meanings of the Latin word *lux *'light' was 'world' too.

In Slavic languages, the relationship between light and world is obvious in the terms derived from *svetъ*.

The same proto-Indo-European root giving _lux _in Latin (or _leukós _'white' in Ancient Greek) gave *loká/roká* in Sanskrit, 'light' and 'world', from which the words for the world, not only in some modern Indian languages, but by influence in non-IE languages such as Burmese (_*lauka*_*:*) or Thai (_*lôok*_) and, as a calque from Sanskrit, in Chinese _*shì jiè* < loka dhatu_ (and, by Sinic influence, in Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese).

In view of all this, my question is: Are the words for *light *and *world *related in your languages, either clearly or by etymological connection to other languages?


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## apmoy70

Hi Penyafort, I dont think the adj. «λευκός» has the connotation of world in Greek. There are toponyms that bear the adjective white e.g. the name of the island of *«Λευκάς» Leu̯kắs* (fem. nom. sing.), *«Λευκάδος» Leu̯kắdŏs* (fem. gen. sing.) which took its name from its white rocks < Classical adj. *«λευκός» leu̯kós*, and the Greek name of the Cypriot capital, *«Λευκωσία»* [lef.kɔˈsi.a] (fem.) --> _Nicosia_ named after the abundance of _Sandstone_ in the area, a rock which was called in Byzantine Greek *«λευκή οὐσία» leu̯kḗ ousía* --> _white material_ > *«Λευκοὐσία»* with crasis > *«Λευκωσία»*.


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## JoMe

Are you sure _lux _means simply _world_? Maybe it means _the lighted world_ as opposed the the underworld, or the world as _anything lighted thus one can see_. So _world_ seems to be a figurative meaning for _lux_ in specific context, not a standalone meaning.

In my language (Hebrew) _light_ means _night_ (not a typo. among several other meanings). It's a cultural-religious thing. I don't think we have a meaning related to _world_, although God said "there shall be light" when creating our world.


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## bibax

In Latin the noun _lux_ has many figurative meanings (esp. in poems), e.g. day, eye, ...

In Czech, _world_ and _light_ are different words, but related:

*svět* (masc.) = world;
*světlo* (neut.) = light, a substantivized adjective form (_*světlý*_ = adj. light);


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## Circunflejo

Penyafort said:


> While the Romance languages don't seem to have inherited it, one of the meanings of the Latin word *lux *'light' was 'world' too.


In Romanian, lume means world and meant light too and it seems that dialectically it still means light too. The usual word for light in Romanian is lumină; clearly connected etymologycally to lume.


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## bearded

apmoy70 said:


> *«Λευκωσία»* [lef.kɔˈsi.a] (fem.) --> _Nicosia_


How is the phonologic modification from Leyko-/Lefko- to Nico- to be explained? In Italian the city is in fact called Nicosia.

As for light/world,  the Italian word_ luce_ only means light - no reference or connection to the meaning 'world'.


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## apmoy70

bearded said:


> How is the phonologic modification from Leyko-/Lefko- to Nico- to be explained? In Italian the city is in fact called Nicosia.
> ...


It can't be explained because the two words are unrelated. The accepted theory is that Nicosia comes from the prominent Orthodox monastery of st. Nicholas established in the 11th c. and throve in the Late Byzantine Period and during the Crusader Kingdom of Lusignan (Cyprus was conquered in the 12th c. by the Franks). There's perhaps a relation between the Frankish name of Nicosie/Nicosia, Cyprus, and Nicosia, a town in Sicily.


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## bearded

Thank you, apmoy70. Very interesting.


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## danielstan

Circunflejo said:


> In Romanian, lume means world and meant light too and it seems that dialectically it still means light too. The usual word for light in Romanian is lumină; clearly connected etymologycally to lume.


Indeed the Romanian _lume _(< lat. _lumen_) had the meaning of "light" in religious books printed in XVI century, while today it means only "world".
This dual meaning is a typical example of linguistic calque from South Slavic *svetъ* and is a proof of Romanian - Bulgarian bilinguism between 6th - 12th centuries.
Another example is Romanian _vită _(< lat. _vita_ = "life") which means "cow" or other big domestic animal with horns:
it is a calque from Slavic _život _which means both "life" and "animal".

A list of Romanian calques from (South) Slavic could be found here: Al-Rosetti-Istoria-Limbii-Romane-1986.pdf
pages 292 - 293.
(the abbreviations used in these pages mean: _v. sl._ = _vechea slavă_ = "Old Slavic"; _dr. _= "Daco-Romanian"; _bg. _= "Bulgarian"; _s.-cr. _= "Serbo-Croatian")


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## Circunflejo

danielstan said:


> Indeed the Romanian _lume _(< lat. _lumen_) had the meaning of "light" in religious books printed in XVI century, while today it means only "world".


Isn't the meaning of light still kept in some expressions like _scoate la lume_?


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## Awwal12

In Russian "light" (n. свет, svet) also means "world", although in that meaning it mostly occurs in a set of idiomatic expressions (for example, it doesn't form relative adjectives at all). The main word for "world" is "мир" (mir), which also means "peace" (an old Slavic calque of Latin "pax").


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## danielstan

Circunflejo said:


> Isn't the meaning of light still kept in some expressions like _scoate la lume_?


I never heard this expression.
I googled _a scoate în lume_ and found 1 link refering to _a ieși la lume _with the meaning "to get to the light, in an open space",
but they say this expression is rarely (_rar_) used (I never heard it):
lume - Wikționar
Another link:
lume - dexonline
remarks for this expression (_pop., îe._) = (_popular, învechit_) = thus is used in non Standard Romanian and is old.

Note on the Romanian infinitive:
It is used in sentences with the particle _*a *_or not, depending on the verb:
_El nu știe *a scrie*.
El poate *scrie*.
*A scrie *este o activitate intelectuală.
Verbul *a scrie* este de origine latină._

When used in discussions about Romanian grammar, the form with _*a*_ is preferred in order to avoid confusion with the indicative of 3rd person, singular.
The confusion might happen with a sentence like:
_Scoate la lume._
which is grammatically correct (as indicative, 3rd pers.), but it implies a missing subject:
_El scoate la lume._


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## Circunflejo

danielstan said:


> never heard this expression.
> I googled _a scoate în lume_ and found 1 link refering to _a ieși la lume _with the meaning "to get to the light, in an open space",
> but they say this expression is rarely (_rar_) used (I never heard it):
> lume - Wikționar
> Another link:
> lume - dexonline
> remarks for this expression (_pop., îe._) = (_popular, învechit_) = thus is used in non Standard Romanian and is old.


 Sadly I can't find now the source where I found the expression (it included other Romanian expressions with lume; most of them dated but some of them seemed to be still in use even if just dialectically). Instead of a scoate în lume, I searched scoate la lume and I got several examples of use both current and old/popular.


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## AndrasBP

In Hungarian, 'world' is *világ* /'vila:g/, an old word of Finno-Ugric origin. Originally it meant "light" or "brightness" and this meaning is preserved in derived words such as *világos* (adj. light, e.g. a room or a colour) and *világít* (v. to emit light, to shine).
The semantic shift from "light" to "world" presumably happened under Slavic influence.


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## Penyafort

apmoy70 said:


> I dont think the adj. «λευκός» has the connotation of world in Greek.



I see, though I was rather pointing there to a connection with the word. I remember countless hours as a student being told by my philosophy teacher that in Greek the word for world/universe and order was the same, kósmos, so I wouldn't forget it. 



JoMe said:


> Are you sure _lux _means simply _world_? Maybe it means _the lighted world_ as opposed the the underworld, or the world as _anything lighted thus one can see_. So _world_ seems to be a figurative meaning for _lux_ in specific context, not a standalone meaning.



You're absolutely right. It is rather a figurated sense, as in coming to the light=coming to the world. Some dictionaries out there are misleading about it.



JoMe said:


> In my language (Hebrew) _light_ means _night_ (not a typo. among several other meanings). It's a cultural-religious thing. I don't think we have a meaning related to _world_, although God said "there shall be light" when creating our world.



Interesting. Light being night is certainly quite unique, I'd say.



Circunflejo said:


> In Romanian, lume means world and meant light too and it seems that dialectically it still means light too. The usual word for light in Romanian is lumină; clearly connected etymologycally to lume.



Indeed!    How could I forget that one?

As Danielstan says, I guess that's the price to be paid for being a Latin island on a Slav sea: being exposed to many calques of the sort.



AndrasBP said:


> In Hungarian, 'world' is *világ* /'vila:g/, an old word of Finno-Ugric origin. Originally it meant "light" or "brightness" and this meaning is preserved in derived words such as *világos* (adj. light, e.g. a room or a colour) and *világít* (v. to emit light, to shine).
> The semantic shift from "light" to "world" presumably happened under Slavic influence.



Interesting. So apparently the light=world connection seems to be pretty much related to Slav influence, at least in Europe, rather than being a relatively clear connection.


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## apmoy70

Penyafort said:


> I see, though I was rather pointing there to a connection with the word. I remember countless hours as a student being told by my philosophy teacher that in Greek the word for world/universe and order was the same, kósmos, so I wouldn't forget it.


And in MoGr the word for world remains *«κόσμος»* [ˈkɔz.mɔs] (masc.) but we now have a different word for the universe, *«σύμπαν»* [ˈsim.ban] (neut.), a construction by Isocrates (4th c. BCE) who formed it to describe the wholeness of the universe, *«σύμπᾱν» súmpān* (neut. nom. sing.), *«σύμπαντος» súmpăntŏs* (neut. gen. sing.) < Classical prefix & preposition *«σύν» sún* + neuter form *«πᾶν» pân* of the adj. *«πᾶς» pâs*.


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## Vukabular

apmoy70 said:


> And in MoGr the word for world remains *«κόσμος»* [ˈkɔz.mɔs] (masc.) but we now have a different word for the universe, *«σύμπαν»* [ˈsim.ban] (neut.), a construction by Isocrates (4th c. BCE) who formed it to describe the wholeness of the universe, *«σύμπᾱν» súmpān* (neut. nom. sing.), *«σύμπαντος» súmpăntŏs* (neut. gen. sing.) < Classical prefix & preposition *«σύν» sún* + neuter form *«πᾶν» pân* of the adj. *«πᾶς» pâs*.


*κόσμος* [ˈkɔz.mɔs] < *Κοσμᾶς* Ἰνδικοπλεύστης / Cosmas Indicopleustes also known as Cosmas the Monk. Around 550 A.D. Cosmas wrote the book _Christian Topography. _A major feature of his Topographia is Cosmas' worldview that the world is flat, and that the heavens form the shape of a box with a curved lid...


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## apmoy70

Ιt's the other way around, κόσμος > Κοσμᾶς; κόσμος in ancient Greek had the meaning of _ornament, decoration_ too, therefore the first name for males Κοσμᾶς means _the one that decorates_.
But I think we're awfully off-topic now.


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## Graciela J

JoMe said:


> In my language (Hebrew) _light_ means _night_ (not a typo. among several other meanings). It's a cultural-religious thing. I don't think we have a meaning related to _world_, although God said "there shall be light" when creating our world.



Which is the Hebrew word for _light_ that means _night?

light = אור_
(or)

_night = לילה_ 
(laylah)


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