2006-07-12 05:43:02 · 17 answers · asked by rodmod 3 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
Contrary to what some of these other idiots said about your question, I think it is a GOOD question. I don't know who named it but I'm assuming it's the same people who named the other planets. :)
2006-07-12 06:20:16 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Because that is the one of the four elements (earth water air fire) known to the ancients which the "underneath" consisted of. Latin "Terra" also means "(dry) land".
the ancients recognized the earth as being just another planet, though the one they happened to live on, the naming might have been different - a deity might have been assigned, as for the other known planets of that time.
AND REMEMBER THERE ARE HUNDREDS OF NAMES IN HUNDREDS OF LANGUAGES FOR EARTH
2006-07-12 05:52:53 · answer #2 · answered by Prakash 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
In English language, our planet is named "Earth".
In French language, for instance, our planet is called "Terre".
As for "Earth", I've just made a search online with key-words "earth etymology".
I got this:
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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.
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So according to this source, our planet is named "Earth" in English language since approx 1400 of the common era.
Your question also reminds us of the fact that our planet has thousands of official names - just because there are thousands of languages used on our planet.
:-)
2006-07-12 21:55:59 · answer #3 · answered by Axel ∇ 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Earth was named by humans, but seldom as a "planet" for it was not recognised to be the same sort of thing as Venus, etc. We get "Earth" from the Hebrew ERETZ which means "land" (even today "Eretz y'isroel" means "the Land of Israel"..
Late Greeks ascribed Earth as the responsibility of Tellus, so we could identify ourselves to any aliens as "Tellurians".
2006-07-15 10:50:52 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
All the planets were indeed named...by people on Earth...that was the dumbest question I've heard this century.
2006-07-12 05:46:23 · answer #5 · answered by flignar 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
See the Christian Bible, St James version Chapter 1 verse 10 :
"And God called the dry land Earth;"
2006-07-12 05:59:39 · answer #6 · answered by blondie 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The actual word "Earth" comes from Old English ("eorthe"). Nobody knows who the actual person is that came up with it or who applied it to mean the name of our planet.
It just is.
2006-07-12 10:23:25 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
ancient greeks called her Gaeia. Latin version is close to Tera which in english means Earth
2006-07-12 05:47:03 · answer #8 · answered by shiara_blade 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
mr earth named it after himself
2006-07-12 05:51:53 · answer #9 · answered by Toomg 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Martians...actually Marvin the martian from Bug's Bunny...
2006-07-12 05:46:14 · answer #10 · answered by DAVER 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋