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Origin and history of map

map(n.)

"drawing upon a plane surface representing a part or whole of the earth's surface or the heavens, with the various points drawn in proportion and in corresponding positions," 1520s, a shortening of Middle English mapemounde "map of the world" (late 14c.), and in part from French mappe, shortening of Old French mapemonde. Both the fuller English and French words are from Medieval Latin mappa mundi "map of the world."

The first element is from Latin mappa "napkin, cloth" (on which maps were drawn), "tablecloth, signal-cloth, flag," said by Quintilian to be of Punic (Semitic) origin (compare Talmudic Hebrew mappa, contraction of Mishnaic menaphah "a fluttering banner, streaming cloth"). The second element is Latin mundi "of the world," from mundus "universe, world" (see mundane).

Commonly used 17c. in a figurative sense of "epitome; detailed representation of anything." To put (something) on the map "bring it to wide attention" is from 1913.

map(v.)

1580s, "to make a map of," from map (n.). Related: Mapped, mapping. To map (something) out in the figurative sense is from 1610s.

also from 1580s

Entries linking to map

mundane(adj.)

mid-15c., mondeine, "of this world, worldly, terrestrial," from Old French mondain "of this world, worldly, earthly, secular;" also "pure, clean; noble, generous" (12c.) and directly from Late Latin mundanus "belonging to the world" (as distinct from the Church), in classical Latin "a citizen of the world, cosmopolite," from mundus "universe, world," which is identical to mundus "clean, elegant," but the exact connection is uncertain and the etymology is unknown.

Latin mundus "world" was used as a translation of Greek kosmos (see cosmos) in its Pythagorean sense of "the physical universe" (the original sense of the Greek word was "orderly arrangement"). Like kosmos (and perhaps by influence of it), Latin mundus also was used of a woman's "ornaments, dress," which also could entangle the adjective mundus "clean, elegant."

The English word's extended sense of "dull, uninteresting" is attested by 1850. Related: Mundanely. The mundane era was the chronology that began with the supposed epoch of the Creation (famously reckoned as 4004 B.C.E.). Blount's "Glossographia" (1656) has mundivagant "wandring through the world."

bitmap(n.)

1973, in computer jargon, from bit (n.2) + map. Literally, a map of bits.

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Trends of map

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

More to explore

mop
late 15c., mappe "bundle of coarse yarn, cloth, etc., fastened to the end of a stick for cleaning or spreading pitch on a ship's decks," perhaps from Walloon (French) mappe "napkin," from Latin mappa "napkin" (see map (n.)). Modern spelling by 1660s. General sense, of such an imp
napkin
late 14c., "a table napkin, small square piece of cloth used to wipe the lips and hands and protect the clothes at table," a diminutive of nape "a tablecloth" (from Old French nape "tablecloth, cloth cover, towel," from Latin mappa; see map (n.)) + Middle English -kin "little." N
represent
late 14c., representen, "show, display, express; bring to mind by description," also "to symbolize, serve as a sign or symbol of (something else, something abstract); serve as the type or embodiment of;" also be a representative of" (the authority of another). This is from Old Fr
chart
1570s, "map for the use of navigators," from French charte "card, map," from Late Latin charta "paper, card, map" (see card...English used both carte and card 15c.-17c. for "chart, map," and in 17c. chart could mean "playing card," but the words have...gone their separate ways and chart has predominated since in the "map" sense....
Mercator
type of map projection, 1660s, invented by Flemish geographer Gerhard Kremer (1512-1594), who Latinized his surname, which...He first used this type of map projection in 1568....
jigsaw
Earlier was dissected map (or picture), 1807, "map or picture mounted on board and divided into more or less irregular parts...
periplum
1934, in Ezra Pound: "periplum, not as land looks on a map / but as sea board seen by men sailing" [Canto LIX], or as Hugh...of discovery among facts, ... contrasted with the conventions and artificialities of the bird's-eye view afforded by the map...
plan
1670s as a technical term in perspective drawing; more generally by 1706 as "the representation of anything drawn on a plane; a drawing, sketch, or diagram of any object," from French plan "ground plot of a building, map," literally "plane surface" (mid-16c.), from Latin planum "
render
late 14c., rendren, rendre, "repeat, say again, recite; translate," from Old French rendre "give back, present, yield" (10c.) and Medieval Latin rendere, from Vulgar Latin *rendere, a variant of Latin reddere "give back, return, restore," from red- "back" (see re-) + combining fo
commute
mid-15c., "to change (something into something else), transform," from Latin commutare "to often change, to change altogether," from com-, here perhaps an intensive prefix (see com-), + mutare "to change" (from PIE root *mei- (1) "to change, go, move"). Sense of "make less severe

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