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this post was submitted on 06 Jun 2024
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Today I Learned (TIL)
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But that doesn't explain how we treated to call this planet by the name we give to dirt. We could have called the earth "rocks" or "sand" instead, but no. When did we realise we are sitting on a floating ball of dirt?
The dirt is what makes plants grow, which is kinda important to people of all cultures.
OK, but that doesn't answer my question of how it became the name of the planet.
Rough approximation: Earth as opposed to sky, becomes earth as opposed to sea, becomes earth as in the known world as opposed to the places we don't settle (sea, sky, hell, etc.), becomes the place we live as opposed to Mars or Betelgeuse.
We walk on dirt, we live on dirt, we live on Dirt.
That's a pretty good and likely summary, thanks!