Talk:Pangaea

γαια

The part of the etymology "gaia" is explained on wikipedia as the aia part being grandmother. I think that is very important since Pangaea is ancestor of the continents. Furthermore, the translation as it stands in the etymology seems strange to me since it suggests that there was nothing but land, earth. In fact there was more water than land even back then, but that is not point. I think it should be changed to γαια instead of γή. Mallerd 13:21, 16 September 2007 (UTC)

I don’t think the wikipedia article gives the correct impression. Already in Ancient Greek, Γαῖα = γῆ = αἶα (earth, land). Although γαἶα is a combination of γῆ + αἶα, it’s been used since ancient times, and the most common meaning of αἶα is earth, land. When Pangaea was coined, he simply used the two existing parts, πάν + Γαῖα. —Stephen 16:48, 18 September 2007 (UTC)

Ah okay, so the meaning is the same you say. Mallerd 14:10, 16 September 2007 (UTC)