Latin "Terra" actually meant "dry", so it was the proper term for dry lands, as opposed to seas and oceans. For instance, "continent" is an abbreviation for "te

Latin "Terra" actually meant "dry", so it was the proper term for dry lands, as opposed to seas and oceans. For instance, "continent" is an abbreviation for "terra continens", i.e. dry land that is contiguous. Spanish "tierra" and the cognate words in the other Romance languages, which usually correspond to English "land", have remained closer to the original meaning of the word. The entire planet was very seldom, if ever, referred as "Terra". The correct Latin word for the entire planet was "Tellus" (whence the adjective "telluric"), whose likely meaning was "support" in the sense "the earth that supports us on it".