English word origin

Etymology of Mensa

From Latin mensa (“table”). The organization promotes itself as a "round-table" society in which differences in the backgrounds of its members are considered irrelevant.

2 source sectionsExtended source reportWiktionary original ↗

In this entry · 2 source sections

The source etymologies

Wiktionary via Kaikki / Wiktextract

The source reports below are imported and unreviewed by *SET-U. Separate numbered origins and differing source variants are preserved; agreement within this extraction is not independent corroboration.

Source etymology 1

Original entry ↗

name

Mensa International, an organization for people with very high IQs.

Selected source glosses provide context, not a complete modern definition inventory

From Latin mensa (“table”). The organization promotes itself as a "round-table" society in which differences in the backgrounds of its members are considered irrelevant.

Relationships mentioned by the source

These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.

Borrowed-form mentionmensala

Inspect preserved source fields

Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.

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      "args": {
        "1": "en",
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        "3": "mensa",
        "4": "",
        "5": "table"
      },
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    }
  ],
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    [
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    [
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    ]
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Source etymology 2

Original entry ↗

name

A summer constellation of the southern sky, originally named after Table Mountain in South Africa. It lies between the constellations of Hydrus and Volans.

Selected source glosses provide context, not a complete modern definition inventory

From Mons Mensae (mensa (“table”)), from Montagne de la Table. Originally named Montagne de la Table after Table Mountain in South Africa in 1756 by the French astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille. By 1763 this had been Latinised as Mons Mensae. In 1922 the International Astronomical Union shortened this to Mensa.

Inspect preserved source fields

Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.

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        "1": "+ (constellation)"
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    ]
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  "references": [],
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  "lexical": [
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Where this record stops

This page does not supply an independently verified sound-change sequence, first-use manuscript or complete family tree unless a cited analysis explicitly establishes one. Missing detail here is a limit of this record—not a claim that humanity knows nothing more.

An older meaning does not determine what a word must mean today. Follow the sources, preserve disagreements, and keep ancestry separate from interpretation.

Contribute located evidence for Mensa →

Source and snapshot

Imported from Wiktionary contributors; extracted by Tatu Ylonen / Wiktextract / Kaikki.org. Selected fields are reformatted and grouped; wording, source identity and etymology sections are retained. CC-BY-SA-4.0 applies to the imported source material.

Dump: 2026-10-01 · Extracted: 2026-10-30. These are snapshot dates, not the word’s first attestation or the page’s revision date.

Source entry and bibliography ↗Wiktionary revision history ↗Acquisition and rights ledger

Machine-source provenance

Source SHA-256: 5ff2c072f8099f2d2ce484bd6957bf179f046d2ad37bc36555edf8bb84cb5291
Import run: 73216b9a9b78ed3830994bf853103716f5a4dc57099e371e9f8fdc468facca26
Permanent entry ID: w-TWVuc2E