etymology - What is the origin of "earthling"?



  • What is the origin of the word earthling?

  • Are there other words with a similar meaning (marsling, venusling)?



Answer



As reported on Etymonline:



Old English yrþling "plowman" (see earth + -ling); the sense of "inhabitant of the earth" is from 1590s. Earthman was originally (1860) "a demon who lives in the earth;" science fiction sense of "inhabitant of the planet Earth" first attested 1949 in writing of Robert Heinlein. Earlier in this sense was earthite (1825).



However, I found this too:



Ælfric (955–1020)
Teacher:hwæt sægest þu yrþlingc hu begæst þu weorc þin



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