'antemundane' originates from Latin, specifically the prefix 'ante' and the noun 'mundus', where 'ante' meant 'before' and 'mundus' meant 'world'.

'antemundane' was formed from Late/Medieval Latin compounds such as 'antemundanus' (literally 'before the world') and was adopted into English as a learned/technical adjective from those Latin formations.

Initially it meant 'before the world' in a literal, chronological sense; over time it retained that core sense and came to be used more broadly in theological and literary contexts to mean 'primeval' or 'preexistent'.