In Old English, the word "world", or weorold,did not refer to a place. It was a compound word comprisingwer, meaing "man", andald, meaning "age". "World" literally meant "the age of man", and in many of its earliest usages, it's more closely related to a man's "lifetime" or "lifespan" than the earth he inhabits. We also look at some unlikely cognates of "world", all of which share etymologies related to "manliness".