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| Image by Leonardo. |
Due to Tyhry's access to information from her future self that arrives by way of the Sedron Time Stream, Tyhry knows that she will, in the future, reach the distant exoplanet Tiz, a world populated by tryp'At hermaphrodites. Chapter 1 of "Plūribus ē Spatium" is in my December 21st 2025 blog post "Station Y".
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| Image by Leonardo. |
In Chapter 2 of "Plūribus ē Spatium", Tyhry gets help from Zeta, her mother, and Nora. While Zeta and Nora distract Eddy, Tyhry uses her hierion field generator to extract a set of infites from Eddy. During a four-way telepathic hookup between Eddy, Zeta, Nora and Tyhry, Tyhry gets help from Eddy's femtozoan to extract a set of infites that had long ago been stored in Eddy by Ivory Fersoni's femtobot replicoid,Yrovi.
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| Image by Leonardo. |
Early in January 2026, I set "Plūribus ē Spatium" aside and completed the story "Downgrade". On January 14th I began creating a new science fiction story titled "The Sims". Finally, on February 14th, I began making plans for Chapter 3 of "Plūribus ē Spatium".
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| Image by WOMBO Dream. |
Me: What is the historical origin and etymology of the English language word "Earth"?
Gemini: The word Earth has a deep linguistic lineage that stretches back several millennia, tracing a path from modern English through the Germanic family and ultimately back to the foundational roots of the Proto-Indo-European language.
The modern English word "Earth" evolved from the Middle English erthe, which in turn derived from the Old English eorþe. In the Old English period (c. 450–1100 CE), eorþe referred to the ground, the soil, the dry surface of the world, or the world as the dwelling place of mortals (as opposed to the heavens or the underworld).
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Old Frisian: erthe
Old Saxon: ertha
Old Norse: jörð
Old High German: erda (Modern German Erde)
Gothic: airþa
These all point toward a reconstructed Proto-Germanic root: *erþō.
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Going back even further—likely between 4,500 and 2,500 BCE—linguists trace the word to the Proto-Indo-European (PIE) language.
The origin is generally attributed to the PIE root *er-, which carried the meaning of "earth" or "ground." Some scholars suggest a more specific extended form, *er-t- or *er-d-.
The "Arable" Connection: There is significant debate regarding whether this root is connected to another PIE root, *ar-, meaning "to plow." If this connection holds, the original conceptualization of "Earth" was specifically "the land that is plowed" or "the soil that yields food."
Cognates in Other Branches: While the specific er-t suffix is most prominent in Germanic, possible distant relatives include the Greek era (earth/ground) and the Welsh erw (an acre or a piece of land).
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Soil/Substance: Originally, it described the material underfoot—dirt and clay.
The World: It transitioned to mean the "dry land" of the world (the "terra firma").
The Planet: It was only with the development of the heliocentric model and modern astronomy that "Earth" was elevated to a proper noun (often capitalized) to represent our specific celestial body among others like Mars or Jupiter.
Note on Mythology: Unlike the names of other planets in our solar system (Mars, Venus, Saturn), which were derived from Roman deities, "Earth" is the only planet name in English that is of purely Germanic/Indo-European origin rather than Latin or Greek.
Me: Is there any known linguistic relationship between "Tizh Tizh" {https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tizh_Tizh} and Tis {https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tis,_Iran}?
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The relationship between Tis (the modern village in the Chabahar County of Iran) and Tiz (the historical port) is well-documented and direct.
Historical Continuity: The village of Tis is the modern successor to the ancient and medieval port of Tiz. Historically, the name was consistently recorded as Tiz (or Tīz).
Evolution of the Name:
Image by WOMBO Dream. Classical Times: The site was known to the Greeks during Alexander the Great's campaign. It has been associated with the name Tesa in Ptolemy's writings.
Medieval Period: During the Islamic Golden Age, it was a flourishing commercial port on the Makran coast, appearing in the works of geographers like Al-Biruni and Al-Muqaddasi as Tiz.
Phonetic Shift: The shift from Tiz to Tis is a common phonetic evolution in the regional dialects (Balochi and Persian influence), where the voiced alveolar fricative /z/ often shifts to the voiceless /s/ over centuries of local usage.
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| Image by Leonardo. |
The "Tiz" Root: In Middle Persian and earlier Old Iranian, roots like tiz or tēž (related to the modern Persian tiz meaning "sharp" or "swift") are common.
The Wikipedia Entry: The Wikipedia entry for "Tizh Tizh" typically refers to a specific cultural or mythological context or a minor geographical feature. In some Iranian dialects, "Tizh" or "Tiz" refers to a "sharp peak" or "cliff," which accurately describes the rugged, mountainous topography surrounding the village of Tis.
Repetition (Reduplication): The doubling of the word (Tizh Tizh) is a common feature in Indo-Iranian languages to denote emphasis, plurality, or a specific characteristic of the landscape (e.g., "many sharp peaks").
Following your interest in deep historical origins:
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Me: For a science fiction story set in the far future: invent a fictional explanation for why a particular Earth-like habitable exoplanet was named Tiz by the human beings who settled on the planet.
Gemini: In this future history, the name Tiz is not a random syllable, but a "phonetic fossil" that survived a grueling interstellar migration.
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As centuries passed and the "Old Tongue" (Modern English/Persian) drifted into archaic dialects, the final vowel was dropped in a process of linguistic apocope. The settlers, descendants of a multi-ethnic diaspora that included a significant population of Iranian aerospace engineers, naturally gravitated toward the ancient root *tiga-, meaning "sharp" or "pointed."
The planet is characterized by an extreme axial tilt, resulting in "The Great Spire" mountains—obsidian-glass peaks that pierce the upper stratosphere. These peaks were so visually dominant that the settlers revived the Middle Persian term Tēž (sharp/swift) to describe the landscape.
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| Image by Leonardo. |
The most popular legend among the planet’s "Deep-Time" archivists (who utilize technology-assisted telepathy to share ancestral memories) is the story of the Twin Echoes.
The planet’s atmosphere is unusually dense at sea level, causing a unique acoustic phenomenon near the coastal cliffs. Early scouts reported hearing a rhythmic, metallic "shimmering" sound produced by wind vibrating through crystalline rock formations. They recorded this sound as "Tizh... Tizh..." in their logs.
"We didn't name the world; the world whispered its name to us through the stone, a sharp, sibilant warning: Tizh Tizh." — Journal of Archon Valerius, First Landing.
Integration into your Sci-Fi World
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For "Plūribus ē Spatium", the story includes the idea that some femtobot replicoid tryp'At lived on Earth in ancient times: the Arya. {https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arya_(Iran)}. The Phari Interventionists intended that these non-biological tryp'At would first displace the ancestral humans of Earth, then be replaced by biological tryp'At in conventional human form. When the tryp'At Intervention was blocked by the pek, remnant traditions persisted among the local humans {https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoroastrianism}.
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Gemini: The relationship between Gayōmart and Keyumars is one of direct linguistic succession. They are the same name, preserved through different stages of the Iranian languages over several millennia.
In the context of Persian mythology, this figure represents the "First Man," and the evolution of the name mirrors the phonological shifts from the sacred ancient texts to modern Persian literature.
The name originates in the Avesta, the primary collection of religious texts of Zoroastrianism (composed roughly between 1500 and 500 BCE).
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Gaya: Derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *gʷei- ("to live"). It means "life" or "vital force."
Marətan: Derived from the PIE root *mer- ("to die"). It means "mortal" or "dying."
Literally, the name translates to "Mortal Life" or "Living Mortal," signifying the first human being who, unlike the immortal sparks of the divine, was subject to the cycle of time and death.
As the Iranian languages transitioned into Middle Persian (approx. 300 BCE – 800 CE), the two distinct Avestan words fused into a single compound.
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The hiatus between the two Avestan words was closed.
The final "-an" suffix was dropped or assimilated.
In Pahlavi texts (such as the Bundahishn), Gayōmart is depicted as the cosmic progenitor from whose body the metals of the earth and the seeds of humanity grew upon his death.
Following the Islamic conquest and the further evolution of the Persian language into its "New Persian" form (c. 9th century CE onwards), the name underwent further phonetic softening and stabilization.
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G → K: The initial voiced velar plosive /g/ shifted to the voiceless /k/ in many dialects and transcriptions.
ayō → eyu: The diphthong shifted toward the more modern "eyu" or "ayu" sound.
marta → mars: The "t" sound was lost or transformed into a sibilant /s/ through Arabic script influence or regional phonetic drifting.
This is the version popularized by Ferdowsi in the Shahnameh (The Book of Kings), where Keyumars is reimagined not just as the first man, but as the first King of the World who lived in the mountains and taught humanity how to dress in leopard skins.
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Back in December, I ended Chapter 2 of "Plūribus ē Spatium" by introducing the unusual biology of the tryp'At of Tiz. Mentioned without much emphasis in Chapter 2 was the fact that Ely the Grendel placed some infites inside of Trib the cat. In Chapter 3, it is revealed that those infites provide Tyhry with historical insights into how the Grendels of Earth assisted in a past Phari Intervention during which some tyrp'At gene patterns were introduced into the human population of Earth. During the long space flight from Earth to Tiz, Thyry learns about that Phari Intervention.
Tyhry is told that Zoroastrianism is a remnant from a past Intervention around the year 2000 B.C.E. when the Grendels helped introduce some tryp'At gene patterns into the human population of Earth.
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| Main image by Grok. Tyhry by WOMBO Dream. |
Upon reaching Tiz, Tyhry is teleported back to Earth and she invites the human residents of Observer Base to help colonize Asha. Alexina and Amiante are among those living at Observer Base who join Roxzel on Asha. Thyry says good-bye to her parents and teleports with Marda to Asha.
Next: plans for Chapter 8 of "The Sims".
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