The noun "world" is one of the most used in modern speech. This is facilitated by the fact that it has not one but several values ​​at once. Let us recognize them, and also consider the etymology of this term.
Origin of the noun
Before considering the meaning of the word “world”, it is worth learning about the origin of this term. The roots of this name go back to the days of the pre-Slavic language. In it was the noun "Mir", from which came the Old Slavonic word "Mir".
Subsequently, this term has been preserved in most Slavic languages, having undergone minimal changes.
So in Ukrainian today the noun “world” is actively used, in Belarusian - “Mir”, in Polish - mir, in Bulgarian - “world”, in Czech and Slovenian - mĂr, in Latvian - mieras, etc.
The lexical meaning of the word "peace"
Despite the fact that the term in question is found in most Slavic languages, only in Russian does it have such a large number of interpretations.
The main meaning of this word (characteristic not only for Russian, but also for Ukrainian, Belarusian, Bulgarian, Polish, Czech, Slovak and Slovenian) is a state of peace, the absence of hostility or war.
Probably, this interpretation had the term in question in the Proto-Slavic language.
Other meanings of the word “world”
This noun in Russian is often used in a different sense. It is used when talking about the universe, about planet Earth, about humanity, about society and similar concepts.
Also, the word “peace” is an obsolete, today, name of a rural community.
In addition to all of the above, this term is used in psychology to denote the subjective content of the human psyche. In this sense, the external and internal worlds are distinguished.
In religion, this concept is also quite widely used, and not in one sense either. He refers to the abode of the souls of dead believers. This is the so-called afterlife, or better, world. A similar phenomenon exists in the predominant majority of world religions.
In addition to this interpretation, the word in question is used to indicate the unity of the Christian with the Lord - it is the spiritual world or peace with God.
With the improvement of computer technology, another concept has arisen associated with the studied noun. This is the so-called virtual world - a synthetic programmed universe, with its own laws and rules. Each PC user who has the Internet can join any interactive virtual environment. Moreover, this phenomenon is used not only for entertainment, but also for business.
In most other Slavic languages, in all of the above interpretations, this term is not used. So in Ukrainian instead of it the name “svit” is used, in Polish - świat, in Belarusian - “light”, and Bulgarian - “holy”.
The only exception is the concept of "peace with God." In Ukrainian (peace with God), Belarusian (peace with God), Bulgarian (peace with God), Czech (mĂr s Bohem), Slovak (mier s Bohom) and Slovenian (mir z Bogom) it looks similar. But in Polish (pokĂłj z Bogiem) - no.
“War and Peace” or “War and Peace”?
Having examined each meaning of the word “world”, it is worth learning an interesting paradox about the pre-revolutionary spelling of this noun.
So, in the Russian grammar in the old days, there were 2 terms “world” and “world”. They sounded the same, but had different interpretations. The first of them illustrated the meaning of the word “peace” described in paragraph II. At the same time, the second meant several concepts at once, described in paragraph III.
After the Revolution of 1917 (when the spelling was changed), both nouns received the identical spelling "world". Thus, this term combines several meanings.
In connection with this situation, in the XX century. philologists began to argue about the meaning of the words "War and Peace", which Leo Tolstoy used in the title of his most voluminous novel. Some of them argued that the title of the book should not be interpreted as “war and its absence”, but “war and society / people”.
To deal with this issue, pre-revolutionary editions of Tolstoy’s novel were found in the archives. Most of them had the name “War and Peace”. Only in one of the books on the first page was printed “War and Peace”, despite the fact that the cover was a traditional spelling.
From this we can conclude that the title of the novel "War and Peace" cannot be interpreted as "war and people", since the use of the noun "Mir" is an annoying typo of printing workers.
Toponyms bearing the name "world"
This word is simultaneously not only a common noun, but also its own.
In Soviet times, one of the most common slogans was - “Peace. Work. May.". In connection with these all 3 terms are very often used in the names of settlements, as well as various items.
For this reason, the meaning of the word “world” is also a series of toponyms. That was the name of several Soviet villages and urban-type settlements. Today, only one of them remained in the Russian Federation - in the Kemerovo region, Novokuznetsk district. The other two are the territory of modern Belarus, and another is located in Kazakhstan.
Station of the Moscow metro station "Alekseevskaya" in 50-60. It was called "World."
It is also worth mentioning the Soviet tradition to call cinema this term. Some of them still bear this name, although they are located in different countries - Belarus, Russia and Ukraine.
What objects and objects were called such a word
In addition to all of the above, the brand of the Soviet refrigerator, camera and lens was named the considered noun. And also a ship, bathyscaphe and even a space station.
Despite the too frequent use of the term in question as a proper name, the meaning of a word in the modern world has not lost its relevance and, as before, means a lot of positive concepts.