mundus

Latin noun

Last edited: 2024-11-11
Primary meaning world, universe
Literal translation world
Variants
mundus
Edited by
world, universe cosmological concept

Vide ne hoc magis deceat magnitudinem mundi ut in multa itinera divisus est nec unam deterat semitam, ceteris partibus torpeat.

‘Consider whether this concept is not more in keeping with the size of the universe: that the universe, divided as it is into many routes, does not wear away just one path while it is inactive in other sections.’

— Seneca, Natural Questions 7.24.2

Genre: philosophy
Date: 62/63 CE

Seneca. Natural Questions, Volume II: Books 4-7. Translated by Thomas H. Corcoran. Loeb Classical Library 457. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1972. 276-277

climate (?) meteorological phenomenon

bene noverit orbem fluminaque et portus, mundum ventosque, necesse est iamque huc atque illuc agilem convertere clavum et frenare ratem fluctusque effundere rector, iam remis agere et lentas inflectere tonsas.

‘The pilot must have sound knowledge of the earth, its rivers and havens, its climate and winds; how on the one hand to ply the mobile helm this way and that, and brake the ship and spread apart the waves, and how on the other to drive the ship by rowing and to feather the lingering blades.’

— Manilius, Astronomica 4.280 ff

Genre: astrological treatise

Manilius. Astronomica. Edited and translated by G. P. Goold. Loeb Classical Library 469. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1977. 244-245

Cite this entry
APA (7th)
Meinhardt, K. (2024). mundus (Lemma #1876). The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1876/
Chicago (Author-Date)
Meinhardt, K. (2024). mundus (Lemma #1876). The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1876/
MLA (9th)
Meinhardt, K. (2024). mundus (Lemma #1876). The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1876/
Harvard
Meinhardt, K. (2024) mundus (Lemma #1876), The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. Available at: https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1876/ (Accessed: February 2, 2026).
BibTeX 
@misc{zodiac1876,
	note = {[Online; accessed 2026-02-02]},
	author = {Meinhardt, Kierán},
	year = {2024},
	title = {mundus ({Lemma} #1876)},
	url = {https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1876/},
	howpublished = {https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1876/},
}