The story
- Latin · derived frommappa“napkin, cloth”
- Medieval Latin · derived frommappa mundī
- Old French · derived frommapamonde
- Middle English · derived frommappemounde
- English todaymap
Shortening or back-formation of Middle English mappemounde, mapemounde (“world map”), from Old French mapamonde, from Medieval Latin mappa mundī, compound of Latin mappa (“napkin, cloth”) and mundus (“world”). See mop for more on the first component. Doublet of mop, nape, and nappe.
Words from the same roots
Latinmappa all →
mopapronnape
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.