мир / земля / свет

[david-us.livejournal.com]

 мир / земля / свет

It seems Russians use all three of these words to mean Earth or world in some way.

How are they different from one another?

I realize that свет can also be used to mean "light" or "electricity."

 

Also, it seems that земля can simply mean "the ground."

 

I also know that мир can also mean "peace". But I'm mostly interested when these three words are used in the sense of earth/world.

Could somebody create several sentences using all three of these words that highlight their unique connotations? Any further illuminating commentary would also be appreciated. 

 

Thanks!

 

Comments

[pro100-petrov.livejournal.com]

Мир не без добрых людей - There are a lot of good people in the world
Я хочу повидать свет - I want to travel all over the world
Земля - наш общий дом - Eath is our common home

[icamel.livejournal.com]

Мир не без добрых людей -- there the word мир could possibly mean laity or community.

[besisland.livejournal.com]

In the second case, “to see the world” would be more accurate translation.

[phoonzang.livejournal.com]

мировая война, мировой рекорд, всемирная паутина

планета Земля, космонавты вернулись на Землю, астероид летит в сторону Земли (the planet Earth)

больше всего на свете я люблю мороженное, самый старый человек на свете («свет» in this connotation is used to stress the world-wide uniqueness)

[4px.livejournal.com]

you can also use "на всей земле" in the same case: "во всем белом свете" (world-wide, in whole the Universe) == "на всей земле" (on our land, everywhere). I think "земля" here is more down-to-earth while "свет" is poetic.

[avysk]

больше всего на свете я люблю мороженное мороженое.

"мороженное" is an adjective, like in "мороженное мясо"

"мороженое" is a noun, ice-cream

[avysk]

P.S. "мороженое" can be adjective too, the difference is subtle:

- "мороженое мясо" = frozen meat
- "мороженное мясо" = meat which was being frozen, maybe it's not frozen now or was not frozen at all, but what matters here is a process

But never ever "мороженное" means ice-cream.

[icamel.livejournal.com]

мороженое like in мороженое мясо (http://lingvo.yandex.ru/мороженное%20мясо/по-английски/) -- is an adjective that should be written with single -н- see http://therules.ru/double-consonants/#63

мороженное -- is a participle like in долго мороженное мясо.

[romik-g.livejournal.com]

Наконец-то дали свет. /электричество/
Включите свет, пожалуйста.

Земля with capital "З" - the Earth, lower case "з" - the ground.

Миру - мир. / http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Миру_—_мир! () /

[avysk]

"Земля" with lower case "з" may have other meanings:

- soil ("посадить семечко в землю")
- world ("самый красивый город на земле")
- ground as in electrical engineering ("чёрный провод -- земля")
- land (as visible from a ship) ("Вижу землю!")

[konstkaras.livejournal.com]

Свет now is almost always archaic or poetic. So, it's a good reason to remember Pushkin now!

...На свете счастья нет, но есть покой и воля.
Давно завидная мечтается мне доля -
Давно, усталый раб, замыслил я побег
В обитель дальную трудов и чистых нег.

Жил на свете рыцарь бедный,
Молчаливый и простой,
С виду сумрачный и бледный,
Духом смелый и прямой...

Свет is used in some idiomatic expressions as появиться на свет, обойти весь белый свет, отправиться на тот свет; the only serious with свет as world expressions is "стороны света" - "cardinal directions".

Земля and мир seem to be absolutely equal (when it's evident, that мир means just Earth but not the Universe). Земля is usually capitalized.

Земля is also used in religious text as "material, observable world" in opposite to небо - "world of spiritual entities". The Genesis starts with "Вначале сотворил Бог небо и землю" with земля in that meaning.

[4px.livejournal.com]

"мир" can means Universe in many cases. Why Earth only?

Modern Russian

[lion-casserole.livejournal.com]

.
http://dic.academic.ru/searchall.php?SWord=%D0%BC%D0%B8%D1%80&stype=0

[tlkh.livejournal.com]

Земля (first letter uppercase) = Earth (planet). Земля (first letter lowercase) = ground, soil, dirt, land, but not the whole planet/world.
Мир = world.
Свет is world too, but used not too often, usually in some specific context, in idioms. Повидать свет. Жить на свете. Есть многое на свете, друг Горацио, что и не снилось нашим мудрецам.

[karakal.livejournal.com]

but not the whole planet/world
Not true!
нигде на земле я не встречал..., он объехал всю землю etc.
If земля is capitalized in the latter case, it's either illiteracy or sci-fi :)

[russtam.livejournal.com]

Конец света - doomsday
Отправить на тот свет - kill

[icamel.livejournal.com]

он сейчас в лучшем мире -- he is dead.

[chaosmalefic.livejournal.com]

"Да будет свет!" сказал электрик, перерезав провода.

Мы против войны, нам нужен мир. Желательно весь.

мммм can't recall anything unique about "земля"

[costes.livejournal.com]

Свет is also archaic word for high society
Он блистает в свете - hi is popular in high society

[finemechanics.livejournal.com]

You can use "мир" in most cases to mean "the world". "Земля" can be used instead in some cases especially if you are talking about natural world (when you mean the Earth as a planet). "Свет" is old fasioned and not used in formal speech, with exception for some expressions like "[путешествие] вокруг света".

"Самый большой город в мире" - neutral
"Самый большой город на земле" - more emotional
"Самый большой город на свете" - informal or even childish
"Самое большое озеро на земле" - neutral
"Самое большое озеро в мире" - all right, but sounds a little odd to me
"Путешествовать по миру" - formal
"Путешествовать по свету" - informal
"Путешествовать по земле" - would mean that somenone doesn't use any aircraft or watercraft but only vehicles to travel
"Запасы полезных ископаемых в мире сокращаются" - a politic/economist would say that way
"Запасы полезных ископаемых на земле сокращаются" - an environmentalist would say that way

[rasimflare.livejournal.com]

Мир may also mean secular part of the society. "Мирской" means "secular".