Globe, Gaia, World, Blue Ball … these are just some of the names by which our planet is called. However, we all know its “official title” (Earth), which differs from the denomination of all the other planets that were named after the Greek and Roman gods. Who gave our world this name? What is the origin of the name “Earth”?
Why is the Earth so called? These are the origins of the name
Obviously, depending on where we are or where we live, the name “Earth” will be different depending on the language. Thus, in English “Earth” is called “Earth”, “dünya” in Turkish and “aarde” in Dutch, but the common thread of all languages is that they all derive from the same meaning: that is, “earth” or ” ground “
The origins of the word are hotly debated and, over the years, scientists and experts have discredited or created possible new theories about the word.
The name Terra, with which we Spaniards call our planet, comes from the Latin «Terra» which in turn derives from an Indo-European term that means »dry part opposite to the part with water«. Even the poet Dante Alighieri, in the last song of Hell (the first of the three songs of The Divine Comedy), refers to our planet by calling the Earth “La gran Seca”.
Obviously, the term changes from one country to another but the principle is that, so that although the name comes for our language from Latin, in Russian, for example, the term comes from the pro-Slavic root of the earth, which it means ‘low’, ‘bottom’. In English, however, the word “land” derives from the Anglo-Saxon word “erda” and is the Germanic equivalent of “erde” , which means land or soil, something that originates more than 1,000 years ago and would in fact be the considered by most experts as the authentic origin of the name of our planet.
Thus, we could say that the word “Earth” came from the Anglo-Saxon word ‘erda’ and its Germanic equivalent ‘erde’ which means soil. In Old English, the word became ‘eor (th) e’ or ‘ertha’. It is speculated that the origins of the word may be from an Indo-European linguistic basis ‘er’ that produced more modern adaptations of the word used in today’s languages. However, what is certain is that of all the planet names , Earth is the only one in our solar system that does not come from Greco-Roman mythology. All other planets were named after Greek and Roman gods and goddesses.
