Worldlynesse

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The state or character of being focused on physical, material, and secular concerns rather than religious or spiritual matters
2. The quality of caring more for earthly pleasures, wealth, and worldly success than for matters of faith or the soul
3. A preoccupation with the tangible, temporal aspects of life and a lesser regard for moral or spiritual values

Etymology: "World" is the surprising starting point. Its Old English ancestor, "weorold," combined "wer," meaning "man," with "eld," meaning "age" or "lifetime," so the world was originally the span of human life, the age of men. Old English "woruldlic" grew from this, meaning belonging to this earthly life, and "worldly" carries the same sense today. "Worldlynesse" is an older spelling of "worldliness," formed by adding the suffix "-ness," which turns an adjective into a noun for a quality or state. The final "-e" and "-nesse" reflect Middle English spelling, before the modern form became standard. The core sense has stayed steady: attachment to this life and its concerns rather than to spiritual ones. Medieval religious writers drew on this contrast heavily.