World matter and a common root

Meaning

In Delle’s visitor’s exposition, the paired mercurial substances come from one root, named Hyle Mundi and then earth or mud. The root-image explains shared origin despite differentiated roles. The passage later aligns hyle and world spirit, so the term is not presented as merely passive stuff opposed to living agency. The local evidence supports “common underlying matter” as an explanatory gloss; it does not justify importing a complete Aristotelian account of prime matter into this mixed Hermetic and theological speech.