English
Mensa
Mensa comes from Latin mensa ‘table’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmensa‘table’
- EnglishtodayMensa
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmensa‘table’
- EnglishtodayMensa
The story
The organization promotes itself as a "round-table" society in which differences in the backgrounds of its members are considered irrelevant.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *meh₁- ‘to measure’
month, moon, moral, meal, sunny, meter, moody, metric, metre, meta, asymmetry, menstrual, madder, metrology, firman, mete, metis, moodiness, metra, menses, 63 more
through Proto-Italic *mētis
through Latin mētior ‘to measure’
measure, dimensional, dimension, commensurate, 20 more
through Latin mēnsus ‘measured’
through Latin mensa ‘table’
Today it means
name Mensa International, an organization for people with very high IQs.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin mensa / Mensa