tellus

See also: Tellus

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *telnos, perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *telnos ~ *telnes-, from *telh₂- (“flat ground”), but reshaped after rūs. Otherwise, could derive from Etruscan 𐌕𐌖𐌋𐌀𐌓 (tular, “earth”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈtel.luːs/, [ˈt̪ɛlːʲuːs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈtel.lus/, [ˈt̪ɛlːus]

Noun

tellūs f (genitive tellūris); third declension

1. earth, ground, soil

   Synonyms: terra, solum, humus

2. Earth, globe, world
   • 8 CE, Ovid, Fasti 2.515:

     nōn habuit doctōs tellūs antīqua colōnōs

     The ancient world did not have skilled farmers.
     (Other possible translations include “soil” or “country”.)

   • 8 CE, Ovid, Metamorphoses 1.10–14:

     Nūllus adhūc mundō praebēbat lūmina Tītān,
     nec nova crēscendō reparābat cornua Phoebē,
     nec circumfūsō pendēbat in āere tellūs
     ponderibus lībrāta suīs, nec bracchia longō
     margine terrārum porrēxerat Amphītrītē; […]

     No Titan [Sun] as yet provided light to the world, nor did Phoebe [the Moon] repair new horns in waxing, nor did the Earth hang in the surrounding air, balanced by its own weights, nor had Amphitrite [the sea] stretched her arms down the far borders of the lands; […]

3. country, district, region, land
   • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 1.34:

     Vix ē cōnspectū Siculae tellūris in altum

     Almost beyond sight of the land of Sicily, upon the deep [sea]
     Or: On the deep [sea], [with] Sicilian land [being] scarcely out of sight

Declension

Third-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	tellūs	tellūrēs
Genitive	tellūris	tellūrum
Dative	tellūrī	tellūribus
Accusative	tellūrem	tellūrēs
Ablative	tellūre	tellūribus
Vocative	tellūs	tellūrēs

Derived terms

• meditullium
• pede tellūrem pulsō
• tellūrium
• tellūster

 

References

• “tellus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “tellus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• tellus in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• tellus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “tellus”, in The Perseus Project (1999) Perseus Encyclopedia‎^[1]
• “tellus”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “tellus”, in William Smith, editor (1848), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray
• De Vaan, Michiel (2008) Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7)‎^[2], Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN