- earth
- O.E. eorše "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. jörš, M.Du. eerde, O.H.G. erda, Goth. airža), from PIE base *er-. The earth considered as a planet was so called from c.1400.