Welt (German)

Where does "Welt" come from?

The German word 'Welt' traces back to the Proto-Germanic term *weraldiz, a compound combining words for 'man' and 'age' to literally mean 'age of man.' This ancient root evolved through Old High German and Middle High German before settling into its modern form. It shares deep linguistic ancestors with English 'world,' Dutch 'wereld,' and Swedish 'värld,' all carrying the original sense of worldly existence or the era of humanity.

Full etymology tree

• Welt (German), 'world'
  • inherited wëlt (Middle High German)
    • inherited wërlt (Middle High German), 'world'
      • inherited weralt (Old High German), 'world'
        • inherited *weraldi (Proto-West Germanic), 'world'
          • inherited *weraldiz (Proto-Germanic), 'lifetime, worldly existence'
            • compound *weraz (Proto-Germanic), 'man'
              • inherited *wiHrós (Proto-Indo-European), 'man'
            • compound *aldiz (Proto-Germanic), 'age, generation'
              • derived *alaną (Proto-Germanic), 'to grow'
              • suffix *-þiz (Proto-Germanic), 'Forms abstract nouns from verb roots, usually from strong verbs.'

Ancestors

• weralt (Old High German)
• *weraldi (Proto-West Germanic)
• *weraldiz (Proto-Germanic)

Cognates and doublets

• wereld (Dutch)
• world (English)
• värld (Swedish)

Descendants and derived words

• aus der Welt (German)
• Gedankenwelt (German)
• Lebenswelt (German)
• nicht die Welt (German)
• Weltall (German)
• Weltanschauung (German)
• Weltausstellung (German)
• Weltbank (German)
• weltbekannt (German)
• weltberühmt (German)
• Weltbevölkerung (German)
• Weltbild (German)

Updated July 2026

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Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris