woruld

Woruld is an archaic English noun that represents the word today rendered as "world." In Old English and early Middle English texts, the form woruld (and variants such as worold or weorold) was used to denote the earth, the inhabited world, or humanity as a realm of life and existence. The term appears in religious, cosmological, and everyday contexts, often contrasted with concepts of afterlife or heaven.

Etymology and cognates are linked to Proto-Germanic roots and related forms in other Germanic languages. The earliest forms are thought to derive from a reconstructed Proto-Germanic noun akin to *weraldą or *wuraldō, with cognates such as Old Norse veröld and related Germanic equivalents. These cognates reinforce a shared meaning across the Germanic languages as “world” or “age,” though exact phonological paths vary between languages.

Usage and meaning have included broad senses: the physical world, the universe, the earth as a inhabited realm, and humanity or life within it. In Old English poetry and prose, woruld could appear in cosmological passages as well as in everyday discourse about one’s place in the world. The form gradually fell out of standard use as modern spelling consolidated to "world."

Modern relevance is mainly academic. Woruld is encountered in philological studies of Old English and medieval texts, and in discussions of historical linguistics and orthography. It may also appear in literary works or historical reconstructions intended to evoke an archaic or medieval voice.

See also: world, Old English, Old Norse veröld, Proto-Germanic etymology.