terra

terr-a uital.-lat. 'Trockenes', "Trockenland"

Aus uital. *terzā, aus uig. *ters-eh₂, von *ters- „trocken“.

Kognate mit torreō, Altgriechisch τέρσομαι térsomai, air. tír, Sanskrit तृष्यति tṛ́ṣyati, aengl. þurst (Englisch thirst). Vergleichen Sie die Semantik des agr. χέρσος chérsos.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈter.ra/, [ˈt̪ɛrːä]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈter.ra/, [ˈt̪ɛrːä]

Noun

terra f (genitive terrae); first declension

1. dry land (as opposed to watery parts of the Earth)
2. ground, floor (the surface of the land) [ synonym ▲]

   Synonym: humus

3. earth, soil, dirt, clay, clod (the substance generally composing the dry land) [ synonyms ▲]

   Synonyms: solum, tellūs, humus

4. land, country, region, territory (any given area of dry land) [ quotations ▼]
5. earth (the entire surface of planet Earth; dry land and sea together, as opposed to the heavens) [ quotations ▼]
6. the Earth, the globe, the world (as a celestial object) [ quotations ▼]

Usage notes

The use of terra to describe the globe as a heavenly body was already established in antiquity, but in New Latin, as the Earth became more indistinguishable from other planets, it gradually came to be treated as a proper noun (see Terra). The English Earth underwent this same transition.

Declension

First-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	terra	terrae
Genitive	terrae	terrārum
Dative	terrae	terrīs
Accusative	terram	terrās
Ablative	terrā	terrīs
Vocative	terra	terrae