All the planets of the solar system are named after the ancient gods. For example, the planet Mars, to which people should go in the next decades, is named after the god of war. Jupiter is the ancient Roman god of the sky, daylight and thunderstorms. Saturn was considered the god of agriculture, Venus the goddess of beauty, love and fertility. But the name of our planet has nothing to do with the ancient gods. We call the soil under our feet and the planet the same word “earth”, although in the second case we write it with a capital letter. Considering that the area of seas and oceans on our planet is larger than the area of land, it would be more logical to call it “Water”. In fact, the name of the planet Earth has its roots in ancient times, and has not changed since then.
The name of the planet “Earth” dates back to very ancient times. Source: goodfon.ru
Contents
- 1 Names of planets and asteroids
- 2 Origin of the word “Earth” »
- 3 Why is the Earth called that
- 4 Why won’t the Earth be renamed
Names of planets and asteroids
It is worth recognizing that Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Venus, and so on are very beautiful names for planets. Not only planets, but also other space objects are named in honor of the ancient gods. An example is the asteroid Polyhymnia, which we talked about at the beginning of 2024. It is named after the ancient Greek muse of solemn hymns, and it is simply beautiful.
The names of planets and other space objects are often associated with ancient Greek gods. Source: reddit.com
But our home planet Earth, if you think about it, is named after the dirt under our feet. The authors of the scientific publication IFL Science recently spoke about what this is connected with.
The origin of the word “Earth”
All peoples have their own name for our common planet. In most cases, it is consonant with the name of the soil under our feet. For example, in English the name of our planet sounds like “Earth”. Scientists believe that it comes from the Anglo-Saxon word “ertha”, which can be translated as “the ground on which you walk.”
The word “Earth” has many analogues from other nations. Source: scientificrussia.ru
Other ancient languages also have words that sound like “Earth”. For example, in the Old Frisian language, which was used in ancient times in the Netherlands, Northern Germany and Southern Denmark, there was a word “erthe”. Modern German has the word “Erde” and Dutch has the word “Aarde”. Perhaps all these words have an even more ancient root, but it has not been preserved in any way to our times and we are unlikely to ever recognize it.
The Russian name Earth comes from the ancient root “zem-”. It meant what is below, for example “floor” or “bottom”.
Read also: How many years will the Earth exist and when will life on the planet disappear
< h2>Why is the Earth called that
We figured out the origin of the words “Earth” and “Earth”. But why did we name our house not in honor of some god? Why is the name associated with land and not water, whose area is much larger?
The reason is that ancient people considered only what they saw in the sky to be planets. They associated them with gods, and therefore gave them beautiful names. Our distant ancestors did not even suspect that they lived on almost the same space object as Mars, Saturn, and so on, but with more suitable conditions for life. Therefore, they believed that they lived on the “Earth”, on the surface of the soil.
The idea of the Earth changed only thanks to scientists and travelers. Source: travelask.ru
They could have called the planet “Water,” but they didn’t know how huge the seas and oceans surrounding us were. People gradually learned about what planet Earth is like, over thousands of years. Ancient travelers like the Phoenicians, Greeks and Vikings made a big contribution to this. Also, do not forget the works of ancient scientists – Herodotus and Eratosthenes were the first to try to draw a map of the world.
You will be interested in:The most interesting facts about our atmosphere that will surprise you< /p>
Why won’t the Earth be renamed
Today we already know very well that the Earth is a planet. The question arises: why haven't we given it a more interesting name yet? This is due to a number of numerous factors. Firstly, the name “Earth” has been used for many thousands of years, so it has historical and cultural significance. Secondly, this name is already universal and recognizable, everyone is already accustomed to it, and it is used everywhere, from works of art to scientific works. If you change the name of the planet, all this will have to be rewritten, which is impossible.
How would you rename the Earth? Write your options in the comments in our Zen channel or in Telegram.
In addition, the name “Earth” already fulfills its function; it designates the planet where we live. One day, a discussion appeared on Reddit in which users were asked to come up with a new name for the Earth. The most popular options sounded like “Blue Blue Glitter Ball”, “Shaturn”, “Pupiter” and “Jupiturt”. Of course, these are all jokes, and no one is seriously going to do this.