The feminine noun γη (ge) means earth (hence our English prefix "geo-") but predominantly as fertile and producing ground. In translations our noun may be interpreted as earth, land or ground but always with the underlying idea of being fertile and bringing forth. When our word is juxtaposed with ουρανος (ouranos) or "heaven", it should not be understood to denote our planet in space, but rather as the dry land that had risen from the seas and now brings forth produce, and has clouds over it and water exchanging between all of them (see for more about the hydrological cycle in the Bible our article on the Hebrew equivalent of our word, namely ארץ, 'eres, meaning earth). When our word denotes the arena in which something like news propagates, it denotes basic humanity as the fertile field in which culture sprouts and grows (the actual world-wide human civilization is most often referred to with the familiar word κοσμος, kosmos).

It should be clearly understood and diligently remembered that where the English translations use words that expresses vastly different things and properties, the Greek consistently uses this same word: γη (ge), not a place or territory or particular substance, but "that in which things grow; anything in which whatever grows". Dry land sits in between sea and heaven. It sprang from the sea (Genesis 1:9, 2 Peter 3:5), which represents the formless beginning of all growth. And it evolves to be like heaven, which contains its final form (Matthew 5:48, 6:10, Revelation 21:1-2).

These metaphors are highly dominant in the worldviews of antiquity and are maintained consistently across the Bible. The feminine form of the Hebrew word for man, namely אדם ('adam), is אדמה ('adamah) or field, and the Hebrew word for mother, אם ('em), is closely related to the noun אמה ('umma), meaning tribe or people. Our word γη (ge) was doubtlessly associated (whether by true etymology or imposed sentiment) with the noun γυνη (gune), meaning woman or wife, and perhaps also with the verb γινομαι (ginomai), meaning to be, or begin to be, or even γερον (geron), meaning old man.

Our noun γη (ge) denotes land as the opposite of sea (Mark 4:1), and heaven (Matthew 5:18). It denotes land as that which yields vegetation and produce (Matthew 13:5), or land as supporting a political entity: a country or region (Matthew 2:20), or the whole human realm (Luke 11:31, Romans 9:17).

Our word also denotes the foundation of man's stance, poise and stride (Matthew 15:35, John 8:8, Acts 9:4), and is as such a metaphor for knowledge and certainty (see our article on πιστις, pistis, meaning faith, or "the dry land of the mind").

Note that quite often the various applications of our word in English make for quite diverse possible interpretations of Scriptures. Did, in Matthew 5:5, Jesus say that the meek would inherit the earth (as stewards of God's creation) or the land (as appreciated client state of the Romans)? The Great Jewish Revolt that resulted in the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 AD was really the violent culmination of a period of remarkably meek protest that had begun well before Jesus' birth. Did Jesus, likewise, deny that he had come to bring peace on earth or just the occupied territories (Matthew 10:34)?

Our noun γη (ge) occurs 251 times in the New Testament, see full concordance, and its derivatives are:

The noun γειτων (geiton) describes one's countryman, a neighbor in the broadest sense of the word, although in antiquity there were no nation states the way we have them, and a person's "country" was often a local region, a valley or a city state.

It's not clear where this word comes from, but a creative Greek poet might have assumed that it had to do with the previous: γη (ge), land. It's used 4 times in the New Testament; see full concordance

The noun χθων (chthon) means earth or ground and stems from the Proto-Indo-European root "degom-", meaning earth. From that same root comes the Latin word humus, ground or floor, but also humilis, lowly or humble (same word), as well as the PIE noun "gmo", earthling, from which we get the Latin noun homo, meaning man, hence also the words "human" and "homage" and via the Germanic gumo, man, the English word "[bride-]groom".

In Hebrew exists a comparable association between the land and mankind, and between humility and humanity. As we discuss in much greater detail in our article on the name Adam, humanity (אדם, 'adam) began to emerge from the animal world (Psalm 73:22, Ecclesiastes 3:18, 2 Peter 2:12, Jude 1:10) when our ancestors began to change the land (אדמה, 'adama) as much as the land began to change them. Two "generations" later, in Enosh, humanity began to understand that man was weak by himself, but together, by imitating each other (1 Corinthians 11:1, Philippians 2:3) they could "call upon YHWH" (Genesis 4:26), and develop language first and then law, and then receive the Logos in human form (that is: the Word of God among human words).

The spirit of human language — that is, the Hebrew language: the further away from Hebrew, the less Holy Spirit there is (see our article on the many Hebrew roots of Greek) — that once hovered over the vast void of prehistoric human mind was poured out in massive abundance (περιστερα, peristera, dove), and rather than from any man's individual Herculean strength, the Salvation of God came from man's individual weakness (Zechariah 4:6, 2 Corinthians 12:10).

Our noun χθων (chthon) does not occur in the New Testament but from it come: