Tellus

Borrowed from Latin tellus (“Earth, globe, world”), 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”).

Tellus

1. (Roman mythology) The goddess of the Earth in Roman mythology.

   Synonym: Terra

   • 1687, John Aubrey, Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme, page 37:

     Perhaps the Custome of the Beggars, throwing the remainder of drinke out of the Dish on the Ground, may be derived from an Ethnick sacrifice to Tellus.

   • 1992, Robert Harris, Fatherland, London: Hutchinson, →ISBN, page 27:

     Now they could see what the guide was telling them: that the pillars supporting the frontage were of red granite, mined in Sweden, flanked at either end by golden statues of Atlas and Tellus, bearing on their shoulders spheres depicting the heavens and the earth.

2. (literary, now chiefly science fiction) The planet Earth.

   Synonyms: Terra, Sol III

   • 1958, Edward E[lmer] Smith, The Skylark of Space, revised edition, Pyramid Books, page 121:

     "Greetings, oh guests from Tellus! I feel more like myself, now that I am again in my trappings and have my weapons at my side." He attached a timepiece to the wrist of each of the guests, with a bracelet of the blue metal. "Will you accompany me to fourth-meal or aren't you hungry?"

• “Tellus”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
• “Tellus, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
• Jesse Sheidlower, editor (2001–2024), “Tellus, n.”, in Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction.

• Tellus on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Learned borrowing from Latin Tellūs.

• IPA^(key): /ˈtelːus/, [ˈt̪e̞lːus̠]
• Rhymes: -elːus
• Hyphenation^(key): Tel‧lus

Tellus

1. (astronomy) the planet Earth

   Synonyms: Maa, maapallo

Solar System in Finnish · Aurinkokunta (layout · text)
Star	Aurinko
IAU planets and notable dwarf planets	Merkurius	Venus	Maa (Tellus)	Mars	Ceres	Jupiter	Saturnus	Uranus	Neptunus	Pluto	Eris
Notable moons	—	—	Kuu	Phobos Deimos	—	Io Europa Ganymedes Kallisto	Mimas Enceladus Tethys Dione Rhea Titan Japetus	Miranda Ariel Umbriel Titania Oberon	Triton	Kharon	Dysnomia

A personification of tellūs; see there for more.

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

Tellūs f sg (genitive Tellūris); third declension

2. Earth
3. An ancient goddess of the Earth

Third-declension noun, singular only.

• English: Tellurian, tellurian, tellurium, telluric

From Latin Tellus.

Tellus

1. Earth
2. An ancient goddess of the Earth

• “Tellus” in The Bokmål Dictionary / The Nynorsk Dictionary.