English
earth
Earth comes from Old English eorþe, from Proto-Germanic *erþō ‘ground, earth’, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁er- ‘earth’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₁er-1‘earth’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*erþō1‘dirt, ground, earth’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*erþu1‘earth’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150eorþe1‘ground’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500erthe1‘earth’
- Englishearliest quotation 1611earth1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English earth
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1611, The Holy Bible, London: […] Robert Barker: “And the whole earth was of one language, and…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₁er-Wiktionary, English earth‘earth’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*erþōWiktionary, English earth‘dirt, ground, earth’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*erþuWiktionary, English earth‘earth’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150eorþeWiktionary, English earth‘ground’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500ertheWiktionary, English earth‘earth’
- Englishearliest quotation 1611earthWiktionary, English earth. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1611, The Holy Bible, London: […] Robert Barker: “And the whole earth was of one language, and…”
Word family
English words that share an ancestor with earth, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.
through Proto-Indo-European *h₁er-
- artha ← अर्थ ← *Hártʰam ← *h₁er-tHo-m
2 more relatives in the full family tree
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Today it means
name Soil.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “earth”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *h₁er- / earth