Why is Planet Earth called Earth?

[Copperhaired Berserker!]

Just a question. I remember asking my teacher, "Why is our planet called Earth? I mean, the other planets are named after gods, and metals (Mercury for example.) so why Earth?" The teacher just replied, "Good question. I don't know. How about you look it up?" I've tried, no luck. If you know, please answer.

[The_Doctor]

It is also called Terra.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terra_%28Planetry_Science%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth

[Big King Sanctaphrax]

I think we should rename Earth Alderaan, in recognition of that star system's tragic loss.

[Beirut]

We could call it Dirt instead of Earth.

Soil is more... spacey, but Compost might be the most accurate.

[Samurai Waki]

I don't know... honestly. Could be because Earth is sometimes used as reference from Greek and Roman Mythology as the realm of Mortals.

[Zalmoxis]

Doesn't every culture call it something different?

[Strike For The South]

we should call Earth Texas as it is the only true land mass

[Dâriûsh]

We could call it Dirt instead of Earth.

Soil is more... spacey, but Compost might be the most accurate. Dirtball sounds good... :idea2:




Well, that or Texas.

[Mouzafphaerre]

.
Arda!
.

[lancelot]

Isnt Earth simply another way of saying Terra?

Its weird isnt it, to a hypothetical alien race we would either be known as Terrans or humans...so should it be earthans?

And who decided the whole population/race should be labelled humans?

[Ianofsmeg16]

We got Humans from the latin name for our species Homonids, human is just homonid in English...I think

[Mikeus Caesar]

It is also called Terra.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terra_%28Planetry_Science%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth

That is what i usually refer to this planet as.

And we couldn't call the planet 'Texas'....there are just so many reasons that would make it wrong and unethical...

[Ironside]

Isnt Earth simply another way of saying Terra?

Yep. Terra (and Tellus) is both words for the earth, earth and an earth-godess.

Why the guys in ancient Roman and/or Greek times started to use it, I don't know.

[Alexanderofmacedon]

The latin word 'Eartha', which means land of growing things.

~;)

[The Stranger]

latin words never have a meaning like that...it might mean land or it might mean growing "thing" but it wont mean both

[Alexanderofmacedon]

Twas a joke...:laugh4:

[The Stranger]

:P i forgive U then but its best not to joke around here it will get U warning points...

beirut is around ssssst

[Alexanderofmacedon]

Well, I put the winky...oh well

[Ludens]

Arda!
I think Mouzafphaerre is on the right track. IIRC "Arda" is an ancient Germanic word. In modern German it has become "Erde", which is quite close to earth. English is, after all, a Germanic language with strong Latin influences.

[AntiochusIII]

I think Mouzafphaerre is on the right track. IIRC "Arda" is an ancient Germanic word. In modern German it has become "Erde", which is quite close to earth. English is, after all, a Germanic language with strong Latin influences.lol. And Tolkein did the work again. :)

I thought we call it teh org around here. :inquisitive:

[Red Peasant]

We got Humans from the latin name for our species Homonids, human is just homonid in English...I think


The Latin word for human being is homo, which is the root of words like humanitas, humaniter, humane, to describe human-like qualities.
So no, a homo is not necessarily gay! Anyway, the homo in homosexual is a different derivation, from Greek.

[KukriKhan]

The word Earth has cognates in many modern as well as defunct - including ancient - languages. Examples in modern tongues include aarde in Dutch, Erde in German, and aard in Arabic, all of which mean 'land', or in some cases, the entire earth. The root also has cognates in extinct languages such as ertha in Old Saxon and ert (meaning 'ground') in Middle Irish. It is derived from Old English eorðe. Taking into account metathesis, we can find cognates of the word Earth in the Latin terra and in the modern Romance Languages (i.e. tierra in Spanish).

Although a link to such Indo-European languages has not been proved, several Semitic languages have similar-sounding words for Earth: irtsitu in Assyrian, araa in Aramaic, erets in Phoenician (which appears in the Mesha Stele), and ארץ (arets, or erets when followed by a noun modifier) in Hebrew.

From a Wikipedia article - extracted from an OED entry. So I guess when Adam fell down one time, and got a mouthful of dirt, his explanation to Eve was "Ur-t-t-t". :)

[Muska Burnt]

Just a question. I remember asking my teacher, "Why is our planet called Earth? I mean, the other planets are named after gods, and metals (Mercury for example.)

mercury is a god the metal and the planet is named after the god sorry just had to say this its a thing i have i hate it when people mistake this stuff