Happy Earth Day!
Our planet is unique in so many ways, including when it comes to its name: only one planet in our solar system is not named for a Greek or Roman god, and it’s this one.
So if it’s not named for a mythical character, where does Earth get its name?
At the risk of sounding flip, the name Earth comes from… earth.
This convention likely started at least a millennium ago, though we don’t have specific dates.
Nor do we know who first thought of the idea.
But the idea is pretty simple: to describe the whole of the world around them, people decided to use their words for the ground underneath them.
The Anglo-Saxon word “ertha” became the Old English word “eorþe,” which eventually became the modern word “earth.”
It was also possibly helped along by the German word “erde.”
And, of course, modern English is just one language that equates surface dirt with its planet.
In Dutch it’s “aarde,” in Portuguese “terra,” in French “le monde” and in Spanish “el mundo.”
But why name this planet – our home planet, the only planet that sustains life, a unique planet among planets – after dirt?
Probably because the people who came up with the name did so before most of the world knew what a planet was, or at least that we were on one.
So the words like “earth” mostly distinguished this plane of existence – the material world, the mortal world, the world made of soil and dirt – from the spiritual realm, the heavens, the afterlife.
Though the ancient Greeks figured out the world was round thousands of years ago, which is why one of their terms for this planet was “orbis.”
This weekend in North Carolina, it’s the Asheville Bread Festival.
One day is an intensive class for pro bakers; the other includes a bread fair for artisans to share their loaves and other delicious baked goods with enthusiasts.
If you miss out, you just might break down and rye.
Why is Earth called ‘Earth’? (BBC Sky At Night)
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