earth

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ɜːθ/, US /ɝːθ/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English erthe, inherited from Old English eorþe (“ground, soil, dry land; the world”),^[2][3][4] from Proto-Germanic *erþō,^[2][5] the source also of Old Saxon ertha, Old Norse jǫrð, Dutch aarde, German Erde and Gothic airþa.^[2][6][5] It is perhaps from an extended form of Proto-Indo-European *er- (“earth, ground”),^[2][4] a base also found in Old High German ero “earth”, Greek ἔραζε (éraze, “to the ground”) and Welsh erw “field”.^[5][7] The verb is from the noun.^[2][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old English eorþe: about 725, in Beowulf,^[3] and Middle English erthe in 1137.^[3] Word Origins notes that the senses “the ground”, “our planet” and “soil” are all found in Old English, so it is impossible to tell which came first.^[8]

Semantic evolution

In Old English the word, along with middangeard, meant the material world, the home of humans, as opposed to the heavens or the underworld.^[2] The earth considered as a planet is from about 1400.^[2] The earth as a place of burial is from about 1205,^[9] and the hole of a burrowing animal such as a fox from 1575.^[9] In old chemistry an earth was a class of substance, from 1728,^[2] and in electricity the ground as part of a circuit is from 1773.^[9] The verb meant “to bury a corpse” from the late 14th century,^[2][9] “to heap earth over plants” from 1693,^[9] and “to drive a fox to its earth” from 1575.^[9] Earth-mover is from 1940.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 725 – ground, soil, the world.^[3]
• c. 1205 – a place of burial.^[9]
• late 14th century – verb, to bury.^[2][9]
• c. 1400 – the planet.^[2]
• 1575 – a fox's earth.^[9]
• 1728 – in chemistry.^[2]
• 1773 – electrical earth.^[9]
• 1940 – earth-mover.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The planet on which we live, third from the Sun.
2. The land surface of the world, as opposed to sea or sky.
3. Soil or dirt.
4. The hole or den of an animal such as a fox.
5. (British) The ground as part of an electrical circuit; a connection to it.
6. The world of human life, as opposed to heaven or hell.

Verb

1. To cover plants with soil.
2. To chase an animal into its burrow.
3. (British) To connect an electrical circuit to the ground.

Word family

• earthlike
• unearth

Related words

• earthen
• earthly
• earthquake
• earthworm
• aardvark

Usage notes

An unrelated Old English ierþ, “a ploughing”, related to the verb ear “to plough”, survived as earth in dialect.^[6][9] Aardvark contains the Dutch cognate aarde.^[8]

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
5. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press