Meanings
- Romanhuman sciencesThe goddess of the Earth in Roman mythology.
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.
1687, John Aubrey, Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme, page 371 more example
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.
1992, Robert Harris, Fatherland, London: Hutchinson, →ISBN, page 27Synonyms: Terra
- literaryliteratureThe planet Earth.
"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?"
1958, Edward E[lmer] Smith, The Skylark of Space, revised edition, Pyramid Books, page 121
Synonyms & antonyms
proper nounThe goddess of the Earth in Roman mythology.
Origin
- Etruscan𐌕𐌖𐌋𐌀𐌓“earth”
- Proto-Indo-European*telnos ~ *telnes-
- Proto-Italic*telnos
- Latintellus“Earth, globe, world”
- EnglishTellus
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”).
More words from Latin, Proto-Italic, Proto-Indo-European
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
Tellus. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Tellus
“Tellus.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Tellus. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Tellus,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Tellus.
Source: Tellus on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.