Where does the name Europe come from? If anyone claims to know for sure where the name Europe comes from, he must have lived sometime between 3000 and 2000 years ago. What we know for sure is that the name Europe existed long before the discovery of the 6 or 7 continents. The ancient Greeks believed that there were three continents in the world namely Europe, Asia, and Libya (which later came to be part of what we now know as Africa). This division served as the basis of Ptolemy's world map in his second century CE. book, Guide to Geography. No one can tell for sure where the name Europe comes from.
To explain its origin, a number of theories have been propounded. Some of them are rooted in linguistic approaches while others dwell on mythology. If we go by the position of linguistic scholars, we would say the name Europe is descriptive in origin. How? In ancient Greek, the two words eurys and ops were combined and corrupted to become Europe. While the former means “wide” the latter means “face” or “eye.” As a compound word, it means “wide-gazing.” Looking at Europe’s broad shoreline from the perspective of the maritime Greeks shipboard, the name appears to be fitting. They also thought that this phrase can by extension mean “mainland.”
Another attempt to answer the question of where the name Europe comes from directs attention to the Semitic Akkadian language of ancient Mesopotamia. The Akkadian word being examined is erebu which means “sunset.” Seeing things from the standpoint of Mesopotamians, the reason for that conclusion becomes clearer. They believed that the western-setting sun descended on the area known as Europe. Building on that, they try to explain the origin of the name Asia by citing another word in Akkadian which means sunrise, asu. From a Mesopotamian ground zero, the sun that rises from the east must ascend from Asia and set in the west at Europe.
However, a more popular and more acceptable origin of the name Europe is found in Greek mythology. It is connected to the many versions of the accounts about the goddess Europa. One of the oldest accounts describes Europa as one of the 3000 sea nymphs, the Oceanides, who are in the lower tier in the Greek mythology hierarchy. Among the only 41 of them worthy of naming, Europa was one. Other popular versions connect Europa with Demeter, the Greek goddess of earth and agriculture. But some people believe that the mythological name Demeter has been adored as an earth goddess before Greek civilization. Therefore, it is not certain when the goddess came to be known and the role she played. However, the most popular version of the Europa story is that she was the daughter of either Phoenix or Agenor of Phoenicia abducted by Zeus.
While we can’t be dogmatic about where the name Europe comes from, we can tell you the most reliable opinion. Please let us have your thoughts on this.


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