Govern essentially translates to 'control' and ment means 'mind' -- control of the mind, or perhaps- in context, control of the many. Depends on context and translation.

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From my collection of (hard-copy_ dictionaries, English and Latin:

govern - (O.F. governer, L. gubernare, to steer, guide, from Gr kubernan. to steer)

Gobernare means to steer or guide. I remember in my Latin translation days that 'gubernator' could mean 'navigator' ....

And of course the addition of "ment" just turns the verb into a noun. Nothing sinister?

I don't think you can make that jump regarding the addition of 'ment' to mean 'control of the mind, or control of the many'. I don't think that it is connected to 'mens', it is just used to turn a verb into a noun... cf attach-ment, announce-ment, establish-ment, enforce-ment, contain-ment, encourage-ment, attain-ment, adorn-ment, defer-ment, etc etc