Latin 'terra' is PIE *ters- (to dry) — 'dry land' vs. sea. Root of 'terrain,' 'territory,' and 'terrier.'
A Latin word meaning 'earth, land, ground, soil, territory,' and the source of English words relating to land, ground, and earthly domains.
From Proto-Italic *tersā, from the Proto-Indo-European root *ters- meaning 'to dry.' The semantic development was from 'dry (land)' as opposed to the sea — terra firma versus mare. The same PIE root produced English 'thirst' through Germanic and Latin torrēre ('to dry, to parch'), the source of 'torrid,' 'toast,' and 'torrent.' Latin terra became the standard word for 'earth' and 'land' in all the Romance languages. Key
The word 'terrier' comes from Medieval Latin terrārius ('of the earth'), because terriers were bred to pursue burrowing animals underground — they were literally 'earth dogs.' And the Mediterranean Sea gets its name from Latin mediterraneus: medius ('middle') + terra ('land') — 'the sea in the middle of the land.' Perhaps most surprisingly, 'thirst' and 'terra' are cognates: both descend from PIE *ters- ('to dry'), one through Germanic
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