TIL, "universe" comes from the Latin word universus, which is a mixture of the words versus (turned) and uni (one). Combined they form universus, which literally means “turned into one“. I found this quite fascinating.
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How does drawing circles with a compass explain the etymology of 'universe'? - Latin Language Stack Exchange
Etymology of the "universe"
20 Words That Can Save the Universe
Ooooooor... You could toss the exoticism and use the English words for those same words. Those Greek words, ('eudaimonia' being much the same to the Greeks as 'thriving' is to us) only seemingly have an impact for that deeply bourgeois exoticism.
Ask yourself: why do we have to use these words that aren't our own? Well, mostly owing to Norman conquest over Britain and the following bourgeois chokehold over the tongue. Why not use our own words? Why not? These words from the article only have their nuances not from our own understandings of the words, our own understandings springing forth from our deep relationship with each part of the word, but rather from the understanding of others in higher learning who say it is what it is, while barely understanding why themselves.
More on reddit.com[Etymology] STRUCTURE DECK: Overlay Universe
totality consisting of space, time, matter and energy
Factsheet
Observable universe: 8.8×1026 m (28.5 Gpc or 93 Gly)
Observable universe: 8.8×1026 m (28.5 Gpc or 93 Gly)
First, let me make sure that there is no confusion of terminology. When they write "an architect’s compass", they do not mean this:
Instead, the mean this:
That is, here "compass" means a tool for drawing circles, not one for finding directions.
The image it evokes is something like an architect’s compass, which is used to make a circle around “one” central point.
It does not evoke that image in me. The image I get is separate entities being converted into a single large entity, much like in the US motto e pluribus unum. This image of drawing circles is a case of analysis taken too far from what is actually supported. The circle drawing thing can be a helpful mental image in describing the meaning, but one should be careful not to treat it as the meaning of universum or words derived thereof.
It's important to remember that vertere doesn't only mean a literal rotation: the Romans used the word to mean "change", too, just like English-speakers talk about something "turning bad", or "turning into" something else. In fact, the Latin word is at the root of English "convert", "subvert", and "revert", all of which derive from the metaphorical meaning instead of the literal one.
So in this case, I think the metaphor of a compass makes sense (you rotate a compass to draw a circle)—but it's not particularly relevant to the meaning of universus. Instead, I would think about a large collection of disparate objects, which have been turned (versus) into a single collective entity (unus).