Homonyms, Etymologically Speaking: H

Many words have two meanings, sometimes more, which are often very different. Such words have identical spelling and pronunciation, they are known as homonyms. Here I continue an A to Z list of such words and look at how that word came to have two different meanings.

H is for heel, obviously the part of the foot is by far the most common use. It comes from Old English hela, Proto-Germanic hanhilon, and Proto-Indo-European kenk which not only referred to the bend of the heel but also the bend at the knee.

Heel is also used to refer to a contemptible individual. It is first seen in US underworld slang in 1914, probably because it referred to one of the lowest standing. Similarly, the phrase 'down at heel' refers to well-worn footwear. Also, there is the now lost term of fighten with heles literally to 'fight with heels' and referring to fleeing the confrontation.

When our Planet Earth is not Earth

I thought I'd have a look at the different words for the Earth in different languages and what they actually mean. Most still mean 'earth' but in the sense of 'soil', which was clearly the original sense of 'earth' before it became 'Earth' (if you see what I mean).

Latin - Terra - 'earth' and has given us the name for the planet in many Latin languages.
Romanian - Pamint - again this is 'earth'.
Maltese - Id-Dinija - is different and translates as 'the world'
Dutch - Aards - a little different in 'earthy'.
Scots - Yird - another 'earth'.
Swedish - Jorden - specifically 'the earth'.
Finnish - Maa - again something slightly different, for this is 'land'.
Hungarian - Fold - 'Earth'
Czech - Zeme - again 'Earth'.
Polish - Ziemia - 'earth'
Basque - Lurra - 'earth' again.
Greek - Gaea - is the goddess wife of Uranus, the Greek personification of Earth as a goddess.
Sanskrit - Dhara - not only means 'Earth' but also 'bearer, supporter'.
Gujarati - Prathivi - 'Earth'
Thai - Look - is used to mean 'land, country, mankind, humanity, world. Earth. sphere. globe'. All bases covered there, then.
Irish - An Talamh - translates as 'the land'.
Welsh - Daear - means 'ground'.
Hebrew - Eretz - 'country, land, ground, soil'.
Cantonese - Diqiu - 'Earth'.
Korean - Jigu - 'Earth'.
Japanese - Chikyuu - 'Earth'
Filipino - Daigdig - 'world'.
Indonesian - Bumi - 'Earth'.
Hawaiian - Honua - 'earth'.
Maori - Papatuanuk - 'the land'
Nahuatl - Tlalticpac - literally 'on the ground'.
Swahili - Dunia - 'the world'.
Sesotho - Lefatshe - 'the world'.
Babylonian - Ersetu - was the name of the underworld in the Akkadian language spoken in ancient Mesopotamia.