Ντουνιάς, दुनिया, dünya

Greek ντουνιάς [dunyās], Hindi दुनिया [duniyā] and Turkish dünya are but three of a plethora of forms borrowed from Arabic دنيا [dúnyā] with the same meaning: 'world'. Many of the borrowing languages (and Arabic itself) have their own word for the concept (Arabic has عالم [^cālam]), but dunya has firmly established itself in all. Arabic دنيا [dúnyā] 'world' was originally an adjective, feminine of أدنى [ádnā] 'lower', which never existed but as part of الحياة الدنيا ['al ḥayātu-d-dúnyā] 'the lower life', which reminds us, time and again, of Lithuanian pasaulis 'world' – literally, 'what lies under the Sun'!