mind

Morphology

Old English gemynd: memory, commemoration, thought. The Indo-European root men- (to think) also gives Latin mens, Sanskrit manas. Mind is a remembering as much as a calculating.

History of the word

Philosophy of mind, theory of mind, mindfulness: the word is asked to cover computation, social inference, and contemplative practice. Augustine’s mens, Descartes’s thinking thing, Turing’s machinery: same English word, different ontologies.

Associated traditions

Parallels, not equivalents. Different attempts to notice something about knowing.

• Sanskrit

  manas

  The coordinating sense-mind, not always the deepest self.

• Greek

  nous

  Intellect, the power of grasping; Aristotle’s active intellect is a later storm.

How the word shifts

Cognitive science often treats mind as what the brain does. Ordinary speech treats it as a place (“in my mind”). Both metaphors teach; both conceal.

A story where the word matters

• The Palaces of MemoryHippo Regius · c. 397–400
• The Imitation GameManchester, on the page of Mind · 1950
• A Mind with Eight ArmsOceans, and a few laboratories · 2010s, with older roots
• The Stream of ThoughtCambridge, Massachusetts · 1890
• Beside the StoveA stove-heated room in Germany, later on the page from the Netherlands · 1619 / 1641

Nearby words

Neighbors, not translations of one concept.

• memory
• consciousness
• psyche