Etymology

netherworld

N1E1T1H4E1R1W4O1R1L1D2

Today it means: The place to which one's spirit descends upon death, conceived as below the surface of the earth. Full definition →

English world ← Middle English world ← Old English weorold
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The story

  1. Englishnether-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*weyh₁-?
  3. Proto-Indo-European*wiHrós
  4. Proto-Germanic*weraz
  5. Proto-Indo-European*h₂el-
  6. Proto-Indo-European*h₂életi
  7. Proto-Germanic*alaną
  8. Proto-Germanic*aldiz
  9. Proto-Germanic*weraldiz
  10. Proto-West Germanic*weraldi
  11. Old Englishweorold
  12. Middle Englishworld
  13. Englishworld
  14. English todaynetherworld

From nether- (“beneath, lower”) + world.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.