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COMMENTARY

Is it “the earth” or Earth?²$5HVSRQVHWRùHQJ|U¶V&RPPHQWDU\

James R. Ebert, Dept. of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, System, does have a divinely inspired name, and so should be cap-
State University of New York–Oneonta, Oneonta, New York LWDOL]HGùHQJ|U¶VFRQFHUQVUHJDUGLQJZKHQWRFDSLWDOL]H(DUWKDUH
13820-4015, USA, james.ebert@oneonta.edu easily solved. Earth (capitalized) should refer only to the planet as
a whole. “The earth” should be reserved for regolith, soil, and
Humpty Dumpty: “When I use a word, … it means just what I sediment.
choose it to mean—neither more nor less.”
(DUWKLVSUHIHUDEOHWRùHQJ|U¶VVXJJHVWLRQRIWKH*UHHNGaia,
—Lewis Carroll, 1872, Through the Looking Glass because Gaia is not in common usage, whereas Earth is.

,QDQLQWHUHVWLQJFRPPHQWDU\$0&HOkOùHQJ|UGSA Today, ùHQJ|UVWDWHVWKDW³WKHUHLVDPXFKZHLJKWLHUUHDVRQWKDWZH
v. 27, no. 3–4, p. 19) poses the question: Which is proper, “the should continue calling our planet ‘the earth’ and not ‘Earth’: it is
HDUWK´RU³(DUWK´"ùHQJ|UDUJXHVWKDW³WKHHDUWK´LVSUHIHUDEOH our abode, not any old planet in the Solar System.” Earth is,
because it distinguishes our planet from the others in the Solar indeed, a unique place and it is a specific place. As such it
System, which are named after Roman gods. The names of the deserves the dignity accorded to proper nouns (capitalized) and
other planets are capitalized because they are proper nouns, which not the more pedestrian status of common nouns. After all, when
ùHQJ|UDUJXHVLVQRWWKHFDVHZLWKRXUKRPHSODQHW we refer to our own Mother, we capitalize the word to distinguish
the specific from the more general, all mothers. Should we not do
The English word “earth” is derived from the Middle English the same for Earth and by doing so acknowledge the origin of the
erthe, which comes from the Old English eorthe. In the kindred word as well?
Scandinavian languages the word is jord, which is visually similar
to the Old Norse M|U˜, which would be pronounced something like REFERENCES CITED
“yurth,” phonetically similar to the modern English earth.
Carroll, L., 1872, Through the Looking Glass: London, Macmillan and Co.,
The Old Norse M|U˜ is relevant because in the Norse/Germanic 228 p.
pantheon, -|U˜ (capitalized) is a goddess who was the mother of
Thor (Lindow, 2001). So, Earth, like the other planets in the Solar Lindow, J., 2001, Norse Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and
Beliefs: New York, Oxford University Press, 365 p.

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