I was thinking about this incredible place we call home. How old is it? Well so far, scientists have found rocks they can date back to about 3.8 to 3.9 billion years and other evidence that the solar system is at least 4 billion years old. The surface of the earth is about 70% water and 30% land. That’s a lot of water! My big question about earth is this…who named it? Who came up with the name Earth for our planet?
Earth has many names. In Roman mythology the Goddess of Earth was Tellus . In Greek it is Mother Earth – Gaia. Earth is the only planet who’s name is not derived from Greek or Roman mythology. The name Earth comes from the Old Saxon word ‘ertha’, the Dutch word ‘aerde’ and the German word ‘erda’. At least that’s what I have found so far.
Humans didn’t even realize they were living on a planet (I don’t think animals care). It was not until the 16th Century astronomer, Copernicus advanced the theory that the Earth and other planets revolve around the Sun. I know that people like to say that God named Earth because it is in the Bible. Well, the Bible was translated into English. The Hebrew word Eretz which means land or ground was translated as Earth. So, I wouldn’t assume to think that God named the planet.
So, it looks as though Earth is Earth because humans referred to the land as Earth. If we were water dwelling, the planet may have been named something else like Neptune – well, at least before we used it for another planet. I’m still getting used to the idea that Pluto is now classified as a dwarf planet.
So, there it is. I love this planet we have named Earth.
