terra

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈtɛr.ra]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈtɛr.ra]^[1]

Forms

terra f (genitive terrae); first declension^[1] Varro reports an archaic spelling tera, and Naevius and Ennius have old genitives terrās and terrāī.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *tersā (“earth”), inherited from Proto-Indo-European *ters-h₂- (“dry land”), usually derived from the root Proto-Indo-European *ters- (“to dry out”) seen in torreō, so that the word first meant “dry land”.^[3][4] Cognate with Oscan teras (“earth”) and Oscan terúm (“area”).^[3][5] Old Irish tír (“territory”) and Welsh tir (“land”) are cognate if they come from a different stem of the same root.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Livius Andronicus speaks of someone falling wounded to the ground (in terram).^[5][3] Köbler dates Livius Andronicus 280/260–before 200 BC.^[6]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin it was the dry land as opposed to the sea, as in terrā marīque “by land and sea”, the ground and its soil, the earth as a substance and one of the four elements, a land or country, and the earth as opposed to heaven.^[5][2] The plural terrae and the phrase orbis terrārum meant the whole known world, and Cicero describes the earth as a sphere set in the middle of the universe.^[5] Terra was also the goddess of the earth.^[5][7] Döderlein contrasts it with tellūs, the earth as a whole body or a goddess.^[8]

In medieval Latin it was a cultivated estate or holding, and arable land as opposed to vineyards and meadows.^[9] In New Latin Terra named the planet Earth.^[1] It survives as Italian terra, French terre, Spanish tierra, Portuguese terra and Romanian țară (“country”).^[1]

Timeline

• 280/260–before 200 BC – Livius Andronicus uses it of the ground.^[5][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses orbis terrārum of the whole world.^[5][6]
• late 14th century – English territory is recorded, from territōrium, a derivative of terra.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. Dry land, as opposed to the sea, terrā marīque, by land and sea; the mainland.^[5][2]
2. The ground, the surface of the earth.^[5]
3. The soil, as producing crops.^[5]
4. Earth as a substance; clay; earth as one of the four elements.^[5]
5. A land, country, region; a piece of land belonging to someone.^[5][2]
6. The earth as opposed to heaven; in the plural and in orbis terrārum, the whole world.^[5]
7. The earth as a globe or planet.^[5][1]
8. Terra, the goddess of the earth.^[5][7]
9. (Medieval Latin) An estate; arable land.^[9]

Word family

• extorris
• terrārius
• terrēnus
• terreus
• terricola
• terrigenus
• territōrium
• terrōsus
• terrula
• terrulentus
• conterrāneus

Related words

• atterrāneus
• exterrāneus
• exterrēnus
• mediterreus
• subterrāneus
• subterrēnus
• subterreus
• territōriālis
• terrulentē
• torreō
• tellūs
• English territory

Usage notes

The phrase terrae fīlius “son of the earth” meant a man of unknown family.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
8. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
9. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
10. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com