Study of the History of words.

Study of the science of signs and the laws ruling their lexicographic structure.

It is the study of the origin of words.

It is a study that aims at identifying the history of words, in addition to their symbolic meaning since their first linguistic records.

Research sources: the Holy Bible, Dictionary of Symbols, History of Myths, Kabala, Dictionary of Religions, among others.

MUNDO(WORLD):

The word Mundo has several symbolic representations and a multiple semantic meaning. However, we will focus on some pertinent traits contained in the word, in order to study and assess the phenomenon and the magnetism that may influence the word. “The very word used to designate the <<mundo>> is usually based in its spatial-temporal structure: the Sanskritic term maya, corresponding to the uncontrollable proliferation of forms that populate the Universe, possesses the connotation of <<measure>>; the Greek word kosmos, primarily applied to the political, military and ceremonial order, has corresponded later to the Universe, due certainly to the utilization that Pythagoras has made of it.”

We have seen that the power of the word unfolds in several meanings, from the creation of the world described in the Book of Genesis, from the Chapter 1 on, of the Holy Bible. The symbolism of the construction conquers a fundamental space in all literatures, both of scientific and symbolic origin. The word mundo gains distinct characterizations: among rites and myths, it goes beyond the unreal, with beautiful legends that will populate of symbolisms the real history and the fictional story of the world’s creation. Writing about the process of creation, David Maclagan states:

“In most myths of creation that expressly refer to the elements, these merely appear out of the blue, materializing by themselves. But the myths that narrate the origin of the world in such extremely impersonal terms constitute a minority: the majority, on the contrary, focuses on the agent or on the act of creation. When attempting to translate the beginning of the Gospel of John, the character Faust, of Goethe, chooses the formula <<in the beginning there was the act>>. And, however, a magician such as Faust should know that, among all actions that allow the creation to occur (molding, sowing, weaving or hewing, among others) there is one that predominates above all others: the word.

The word MUNDO leads to the language and goes further (Maclagan, 1977): “the word, the language, stands between the act and the thought that cannot be expressed in words. The language is a ragged cloak in which the world is wrapped, and, nevertheless, the human beings often believe that their language is a reflection (and even a reproduction) of another even more essential articulation: the world as a text of divine manifestation.”

The following text will show us the several methods of symbolic languages in accordance with (Davis, Dictionary of Symbols): “The symbolism of the world with its three levels: celestial – terrestrial – infernal, corresponds to three levels of the existence or three modalities of the spiritual activity. The inner life is thus projected out to the space, according to the general process of formation of myths.

Those worlds, located in imaginary spaces, are defined in relation to one another: the lower world under the upper world, with the intermediary world between them. This language and such localization according to a vertical axis are sufficient to inscribe these moving worlds into an ascensional dialectics, which emphasize their psychic and spiritual significance.

The lower world is an expression meaning movement, flow and reflux, repetition and cycles. (...) this movement may become a valuable agent in the order of the improvement and metamorphosis of Man. The progress of mankind depends on this continuous movement, which constitutes its own law and becomes an asset for it. The lower world is a symbol of movement and the upper world symbolizes the immobile eternity”.

The World in the Tarot cards or in the magicians’ Crown expresses the reward, the crowning of the work, the outcome of the efforts, the elevation, the success, the illumination, the public acknowledgement and the unforeseen beneficial events. (...) It symbolizes the blooming of the evolution, the supreme synthesis: (...) it corresponds to the ensemble of what is manifested – therefore, to the world, which is the result of the permanent creative action.

Mundo = Mandala: the verbal association of those two words corresponds to a similar circular structure, which literally complies with the law of the energy flow movements.

Synthesis: the movement of such energy flow symbolizes the supreme value of the whole action and the purpose of the whole evolution. “(...) The movement that generates things... The world is a vortex, a perpetual dance in which nothing ceases to move. (WIRT, 248).”

VERDE (GREEN):

Situated between blue and yellow, green is the result of their chromatic interferences. However, it enters in a symbolic game of alternations with red.

Green is the color of the vegetal kingdom being affirmed, thanks to the regenerating and purificatory waters in which the baptism has its whole symbolic significance. Green is the awakening of the primordial waters; green is the awakening of life. Vishnu, who bears the world on his back, is represented under the form of a green-faced turtle, and, according to Fulcanelli, the body of the Hindu goddess of the philosophical matter, who is born from the sea of milk, is green, as well as the Venus of Phidias. Winkermann writes that “if the figure of Neptune had reached our times in the form of painting, he would be wearing a sea-green or light green clothing, as the Nereids were painted; in one word, everything concerning the marine gods would be green (...). That is why the poets imagine the rivers with hair in this color. Usually, in the ancient paintings, the nymphs – whose name comes from water, Nymphi, Lympha – are also portrayed dressed in water (PORS, 206-7).

The green color symbolizes the number four, and, therefore, symbolizes as well the four pillars upon which Muhammad erected his temple. In face of this statement, we are led to conclude that this is a demonstration of symbolic sustentation: green then represents the stability, the safety of the building. The four pillars constitute a mathematical form of symmetrical demonstration of the sustentation (balance).
Green is, therefore, beneficial; green acquires a mythical value, of the “green pastures, of the green paradises of the puerile love”: also green, as the world’s youth, is the eternal youth promised to the Chosen Ones. The green Erin, before becoming the name Ireland, was the denomination of the blessed ones in the Celtic world.
Green is the color of water, as well as red is the color of fire; and this is the reason why Man has always instinctively felt that the relationships between these two colors are similar to those of his essence and existence. In order to justify a semantic and symbolic link, let us verify the representative picture of the words VERDE and VERMELHO (GREEN and RED) and their analogy between SANGUE and SEIVA (BLOOD and SAP), between NATURE and MAN.

The color of Nature, Man and the relationship with their opposites:

(Water and Fire)

(close relationship)

(chlorophyllian function)

Green Sign

Green is opposite to red as well as water is opposite to fire.
The vegetal tree is a child of the light – the child that evolved from the Sun assimilates oxygen through its leaves turned outwards, in the direction of the sky.

Red Sign

MAN – is also a tree, but contrary to the vegetal tree – turned inwards – performing the same functions by means of the lungs, which, with their network of bronchia, bronchioles and pulmonary alveoli, represents an upside-down tree.
The word ADAM means red (the beginning of life); therefore, Man and Nature complement each other.
The relationship of the complementary colors between green and red reveal in their lexicon that both words possess the same radicals (verde / vermelho) (sangue and seiva). See below:

(Verde) and (vermelho) = (sangue and seiva)
  (ver)              (ver)

Green – is the color of the water consecrated to Venus, or Aphrodite, personification of the Nourishing Nature (Creating Mother).

Red – from the blood, the food of the human life, therefore also a nourishing agent.

Green – is the color of the cardiac chakra, flow of energy, center of emotions. Thus, we may conclude that the green and red colors complement each other.

It is the study of the science of signs, their life, and the laws that rule them. It is the study of words as signals, based on the ideas that they symbolize.

Analysis of the functions of the words MUNDO VERDE:

The history of the two words presented in the aforementioned texts count on the support of science; it is not, therefore, a mere coincidence. There really is a close relationship between the symbols, the semiotic and the linguistic structures. The two words are perfectly linked, on a deep degree of perfect psychological, scientific, religious, mythical and mystic relationship.

The function of the word mundo reveals a permanent and circular movement, of constant creation and renewal.

The function of the word verde reveals a moving energy, such as the sap and the blood.  Consequently, the semantic combination and the symbolic links are in perfect harmony.

The double-action function of MUNDO VERDE is represented by a double articulation, by the combination of two extremely powerful words – which, so to speak, are destined to every kind of good luck, absolute success and continuous movement.

Source: Vannda Santana – University Professor, Investigator of Symbols and Semiotic, Psycho-Pedagogue and Art-Therapist.