Earthlies

Part of speech: noun, plural

Definitions

1. One aspect relates to the physical realm and its inhabitants ; another focuses on human interactions or experiences within terrestrial environments ; additionally, it can denote connections to worldly matters as opposed to spiritual or celestial concerns
2. A term that encompasses beings or entities native to land or soil ; it also refers to experiences and activities grounded in the mundane world ; finally, it signifies affiliations with earthly phenomena in contrast to those of a higher plane
3. This expression can describe entities that dwell on the planet's surface and their interrelations ; it includes life experiences pertaining to the material world ; furthermore, it contrasts worldly issues with those of a more ethereal nature

Etymology: "Earthlies" is the plural of "earthly," so its history is really the history of that adjective. Old English gave us "eorþlīċ," built from "eorþe" (earth) and the suffix "-līċ," which meant "having the form or character of," the same suffix that gives us "-ly" in words like "lovely" or "manly." The adjective was shaped by the older English meaning of earth as well as by its suffix, and the same word-building pattern produced the Old Norse "jarðligr," so the two languages arrived at matching formations independently of one another from a shared Germanic base. The most interesting thing about the plural is how it came to mean the things of this world in the first place. Medieval English writers often set the "earthly" against the heavenly, so an earthly thing was one belonging to the sublunary realm of mortal life rather than the divine. That contrast gives "earthlies" its sense of worldly concerns, pleasures, and material affairs, the things people pursue while still living on the ground rather than looking toward heaven.

Synonyms: mortals, humans, terrestrials, earthlings, men

Antonyms: immortals, celestials, angels, gods, deities