Earth….who named the planet & other related topics.
Posted By:
X
Jul 14, 2005
This just struck my curiosity today, but who in the world got to name this planet "Earth", and why would they use such a word????? Even in the bible it is reffered to as Earth......I need answers people before I flip out again........Some will say it was GOD....some will say it was Adam.......but I am looking for a real answer!
Now, I do know this: The Middle English word, erthe, which came
from Old English eorthe; akin to Old High German erda. This then traces
back to the Greek, eraze from the Hebrew erez, meaning ground.
earth
O.E. eorðe "ground, soil, dry land," also used (along with middangeard) for "the (material) world" (as opposed to the heavens or the underworld), from P.Gmc. *ertho (cf. O.N. jörð, M.Du. eerde, O.H.G. erda, Goth. airþa), from PIE base *er-. The earth considered as a planet was so called from c.1400. Earthy in the fig. sense of "coarse, unrefined" is from 1594. Earthworm first attested 1591. Earthwork is from 1633. Earthlight apparently coined 1833 by British astronomer John Herschel.
I know that in the bible, the Hebrew word for earth is erez, meaning ground, as in "The "ground" was without form and void....That doesn't make sense in the fact that when those words were written in the bible, they would have to have known the earth was a sphere, because if it just meant "Ground", The ground is with out form anyway....Right????
Did they actually know that in the time of B.C. the earth was round???? Not according to history. I could be wrong though. If I was an expert, I wouldn't be asking the question.
Why would they have to have known that the Earth was round?
Additionally, Using simple trigonometry Eratosthenes in about 270 BC, worked out that the circumference of the Earth was about 40,000 km which is remarkably close to the correct value.
X Member
Posted: Thu Jul 14, 2005 | 09:59 AM
There is no such thing as simple trig....lol.
Any way I am just taking that statement out of the bible because it is an ancient text. I am thinking that since it said it was shapeless back then in the beginning of time, what shape did they think it was when man evolved?
X Member
Posted: Thu Jul 14, 2005 | 10:02 AM
They wouldn't have said shapeless if a particular shape didn't evolve......
Sir Stephen, even the word "Earth" can refer to dirt. It's simply our education that causes us to think of a sphere when we hear the word. If this doesn't answer your question, I think you have to refrase it.
X Member
Posted: Fri Jul 15, 2005 | 06:20 AM
hmmmmmm.....I see what you are saying....Technically, it never had a name.....WoW....thats kinda heavy. We just kinda excepted the term "Earth" from all the language barriers reffering to the ground or dirt...It just worked it's way in....Very good citizen....you are a Gentleman and a Scholar.
It's just like when we hear the word Universe, we don't really know what to think of. Some of us think of a sphere, some of us try to think of a hypersphere, some of us think of infinity, and some of us can't think of any definition at all.
Peter
in Melbourne, Australia Member
Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2005 | 05:31 AM
Sir Stephen in a VAN down by the river said:
"Did they actually know that in the time of B.C. the earth was round???? Not according to history. I could be wrong though. If I was an expert, I wouldn't be asking the question."
Actually, it's possible that somebody way back then did realise the Earth is round. Just think about it, when sailors in a boat see an island for the first time the first bit they see of it is the top of it, i.e. over the horizon. Then the bottom part of the island emerges into view over the horizon as they get closer. So it's not impossible that groups of people in the time of B.C. realised that the Earth is round. That fact probably just didn't get recorded in official points of view.
Hairy Houdini
Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2005 | 11:11 AM
"Terra"... the name you spuds have given this world is "Terra", not "Earth"...dumbass
Hairy Houdini
Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2005 | 11:17 AM
And before you get all Republican on me, Stephen, a good friend of mine has asked me to show mercy to you from now on, denying you the privelige of receiving any more tumultuous verbal smackdowns from Yours Truly... It's against my better nature, but I defer to my friend's request on this one, so, don't get all in gear, because I can't bark at your mudflaps any more (at least for a while)... yer lucky my friend pities you, weasel-snout
Yay, i get to show off my little bit of knowledge of hebrew again!
You've got it half right. The hebrew word aretz (pronounced like air-retz) does mean ground, sort of. When a hebrew speaking person says aretz, they are talking specifically about the land of israel. It's just shortened from "aretz yisrael" which literally means the "land of israel". That's why the word "aretz" comes up so much in the bible, because "aretz" is just another way to refer to the promised land. At least that is the way it is in modern hebrew. Unfortunately, biblical hebrew is drastically different from modern hebrew, so I may be way off.
I'm pretty sure in modern hebrew, the word meaning "dirt" is used for "ground" but for the life of me, I can't remember what that word is (an unfortunately, by hebrew-english dictionary is in Tucson, AZ and I am in London, otherwise I would go look it up)
The hebrew word for "world" is "olom," which I have only ever heard used when refering specifically to earth, so I'm not sure if it literally can mean "earth" or if it is just a general term as it is in english. Unfortunately, "olom" sounds nothing at all like "earth."
Interestingly, Celestia has the name "Sol" for the Sun, but not "Luna" for the Moon. It's all subject to interpretation as to what the "real name" is, I guess.
Hairy Houdini
Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2005 | 11:38 AM
Personally, I refer to this planet as "this planet", but I've heard it called: "Leon", "Gefiltefish", and "Gertrude", among others
