HaAretz

Grammar
Word: הארץ
Representation: HARTz (H + ARTz)
Transliteration: ha-aretz
Noun: (H + ARTz) "The land" 
Strong Concordance: H776

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Exposition

Eretz is typically translated to "earth". And while that is correct, it often gets translated to "Earth" (with a capital-"E"), which is incorrect. 

There are certainly Hebrew words to describe a world, but Genesis does not use any of them, nor do any of the other books (prophets, etc.) of the Tanach.

There is no "world" in Hebrew Scripture.

It only speaks of a land mass or of land material when it is used. In Genesis 1:1 we read of this material being created, and in 1:2 it is unformed, and later we read of this material appearing after some of the upper waters drained off and were pooled to form seas. 

The lower waters remained unchanged, and Job 26:5 repeats that the place of the dead is below [the land] trembling in the waters. 

Yes, it is true that, later, humans would use "world" when speaking of the surface where they lived, albeit imperfectly. For example, in the 5th century CE, St. Augustine wrote of the world, calling it a non-moving sphere that was 90% below the waters, and that mankind only lived on the dry portion. Judaism would take several more centuries to accept the idea of a spherical world, accepting the scientific view that was held by the Greek polytheists in the 2nd century BCE (See Eratosthenes)

It is because of this that I am using "land" or "land mass" or "land expanse" or "land-material" when expressing ARTz, lest the modern view of the "Earth" be confused with some "earth".

The prefixing of "the" occurs about twice as often than without it. Sometimes "THE land" refers to Israel, and sometimes it does not. Sometimes it refers to the material and sometimes to acreage. In other words, the prefixing "the" is a literary device that needs to be taken in context and does not automatically mean one thing over another.