What Is The Origin Of The Word 'Earth'?

I need to know for my sons school project.

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The origin of the word "earth" derives from an ancient word that it self means ground or earth. Confusing it may be as it is generally believed that all planets have their names selected from the names of the Ancient Roman Gods or Goddesses.

However, Earth is the only one of two planets that is not named after the gods or goddesses of the Roman mythology. The other being the Uranus. However Uranus was a god from Greek mythology.

For those who may well be pondering that this was a discrimination for Planet earth, then hold on! The reality is much more simple. When the word "earth" was created, it was not known that earth it self was a planet.

Earth is the 3rd Planet from the Sun in the solar system and is the only planet known to have life. In-fact it is the only planet to have water on its surface.

From the Human View point, it is the only planet where a human can think of living without much difficulty as the temperature is tailor-made for survival. With heat and water, the most essential ingredients other living things such as plants can survive. Thus becoming a source of food for Human Beings.

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Kewlammar

I personally think that EARTH is derived from the hebrew word 'ERETZ." there is no TH sound in ancient (nor modern) hebrew and i think that there could quite possibly be a connection...

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Pcurran654

The origin of the Word Earth is probably the Sumerian 'Ur'uth", or "Place of Ur" referring to the Capitial City of Ur (see Ezekiel 1:3 or so). It seems no matter the linguistic modifications of the last several thousand years the 'flavour' of the name remains constant among all Western Cultures as well as several non-western peoples.

Another possibility of note is Ea'rautha which loosely means "Home of Ea" or "Home of hte Craftsman"...Ea was the most friendly of the Sumerian Dieties.

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Wynndd

Addendum:

Pcurran654 was correct in his/her analysis of the consonant sound 'th' as well...'the 'th' sound is a fashion thing from the Elizabethan (or ealier) period of England and most likely originally was the "coughing k" of the Gaelic tongues.

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Wynndd

In the Bible, Genesis Chapter 1 verse 10 reads, "And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas, And God saw that it was good".