MUNDANE

Use this forum to discuss past Good Words.
User avatar
Dr. Goodword
Site Admin
Posts: 7417
Joined: Wed Feb 02, 2005 9:28 am
Location: Lewisburg, PA
Contact:

MUNDANE

Postby Dr. Goodword » Sun Feb 20, 2005 8:24 pm

• mundane •

Pronunciation: mên-deyn

Part of Speech: Adjective

Meaning: 1. Worldly, secular, as opposed to spiritual or heavenly. 2. Pedestrian, commonplace, trite, ordinary.

Notes: The adverb for this good adjective is mundanely and you have your choice of two nouns: the mundane mundaneness or the more elegant mundanity [mên-dæ-nê-ti], which some dictionaries no longer post.

In Play: The two meanings of today's Good Word are so close, it is often difficult to distinguish them in using the word, "You know, Farquhar, concerns about money should be far too mundane for a creative mind like you, so I'm going to ignore your request for a raise in your own best interest." Just remember, this is a good word to replace that utterly irksome utterance, blah, when we cannot think of anything else to say: "He gave a performance that was (not blah!) mundane."

Word History: Nothing could be more mundane than another borrowing from French, but that is exactly what we have today: Middle English made a virtual tracing of Middle French mondain, the descendant of Late Latin mundanus "a citizen of the world", from mundus "world, earth". The Latin verb, mundare, however, means "to wash, to clean". Are they related? Julius Pokorny, one of our greatest etymologists, thought so. He posited a PIE root, *meut- "moist, wet", which came to be used to refer to earth, which does best when moist, and from there to "world". He points to English mud, less the fickle [n], German Mund "mouth", with it, as further support of the original meaning.
• The Good Dr. Goodword

KatyBr
Wordmaster
Posts: 959
Joined: Thu Feb 10, 2005 5:28 pm

nothing mondane about mondane

Postby KatyBr » Sun Feb 20, 2005 10:36 pm

While it is most certainly not ethereal, It, the word mondane, is not mondane either..
Check to see if your boss or coworkers actually know what it means.

Katy
Last edited by KatyBr on Sun Feb 20, 2005 11:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Flaminius
Lexiterian
Posts: 408
Joined: Fri Feb 18, 2005 4:36 am

Postby Flaminius » Sun Feb 20, 2005 11:40 pm

If the Agorans can use this Forum in order to make each of them mundanus "a citizen of the world", it is not a mundane attempt at all.

Flam

Iterman
Junior Lexiterian
Posts: 29
Joined: Sat Feb 12, 2005 6:04 am
Location: Sweden

Postby Iterman » Mon Feb 21, 2005 6:58 am

Meaning 2: Pedestrian.....! And I who thought it was a noun and the opposite to a motorist.
So you can say: Ah, it was only a pedestrian pedestrian I run over. :?:

KatyBr
Wordmaster
Posts: 959
Joined: Thu Feb 10, 2005 5:28 pm

Postby KatyBr » Mon Feb 21, 2005 11:43 am

Meaning 2: Pedestrian.....! And I who thought it was a noun and the opposite to a motorist.
So you can say: Ah, it was only a pedestrian pedestrian I run over. :?:

:lol:

Katy

User avatar
Dr. Goodword
Site Admin
Posts: 7417
Joined: Wed Feb 02, 2005 9:28 am
Location: Lewisburg, PA
Contact:

Pedestrian pedestrian

Postby Dr. Goodword » Mon Feb 21, 2005 11:31 pm

So long it was noone everyone knows or someone dressed extraordinarily.
• The Good Dr. Goodword

M. Henri Day
Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 1141
Joined: Tue Feb 15, 2005 8:24 am
Location: Stockholm, SVERIGE

Postby M. Henri Day » Fri Feb 25, 2005 2:03 pm

Interesting to note that French «mondain» retains its positive connotations, while its derivative «mondane» is most usually interpreted in a negative sense....

Henri
曾记否,到中流击水,浪遏飞舟?

Perry Lassiter
Great Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 3333
Joined: Wed Jan 03, 2007 12:41 pm
Location: RUSTON, LA
Contact:

Postby Perry Lassiter » Thu May 31, 2012 3:34 pm

Possibly the second word treated on the forum. Interesting to notice the consistent quality over 7+ years and the playful humor. I did wonder at the variant spelling "mondane" that showed up in two posts.
pl


Return to “Good Word Discussion”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Ahrefs [Bot], Google [Bot], Semrush [Bot] and 34 guests