From Proto-Italic *homos, from earlier *xomos, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰǵʰomós, from *dʰéǵʰōm (“earth”), from earlier **dʰéǵʰoms through internal reconstruction. Cognates include Sanskrit क्ष (kṣa), Ancient Greek χθών (khthṓn), and Old Church Slavonic землꙗ (zemlja). Related to homō (“human being, man”).