From Old English woruld, weorold (human existence, this life, the world), from Proto-Germanic *weraldiz, a compound of *wer- (man, human) and *aldiz (age, era). The compound literally meansage of man or human era — a poetic kenning for earthly existence as opposed to the divine or eternal realm. The element *wer- comes from PIE *wiHrós (man, human male), which producedLatin
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The 'were-' in 'werewolf' contains the same ancient root as 'world' — Proto-Germanic *wer- (man). A werewolf is literally a 'man-wolf,' and the 'world' is literally the 'age of man.' The word 'virile' from Latin 'vir' (man) shares the same PIE origin.
verǫld, Old Saxon werold, Old Frisian warld, and Dutch wereld. The semantic range expanded from human lifetime to the physical earth to the universe to any domain of activity (the world of finance). No other Germanic language preserves this compound as elegantly as English does. Key roots: *wer- (Proto-Indo-European: "man (adult male)"), *aldiz (Proto-Germanic: "age, era (from PIE *h₂el- 'to grow, nourish')").