English
Tellurian
Tellurian comes from Latin tellūs ‘earth, ground’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtellūs‘earth, ground’
- Englishearliest quotation 1847Tellurian
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtellūs‘earth, ground’
- Englishearliest quotation 1847Tellurian
Earliest quotation: 1847, Thomas de Quincey, Joan of Arc: “If any distant world (which may be the case)…”
Formed from -ian
The story
From Latin tellūs (‘earth, ground; the globe, planet Earth; country, land’) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *telh₂- (‘ground, bottom’) + -ian (suffix meaning ‘from, related to, or like’ (when forming an adjective), or ‘one from, belonging to, relating to, or like’ (when forming a noun)).
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *telh₂- ‘ground, bottom’
talent, tolerance, toll, atlas, tolerate, tolerant, intolerable, tolerable, toleration, extol, 18 more
Today it means
noun An inhabitant of the Earth.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin tellūs / Tellurian