Europe

==Name==
{{Anchor|Etymology}}
{{Further|Europa (consort of Zeus)}}
[[File:Anaximander world map-en.svg|thumb|left|Reconstruction of an early [[early world maps|world map]] made by [[Anaximander]] of the 6th century BCE, dividing the known world into three large landmasses, one of which was named Europe]]

The place name Evros was first used by the ancient Greeks to refer to their northernmost province, which bears the same name today. The principal river there – Evros (today's [[Maritsa]]) – flows through the fertile valleys of [[Thrace]],<ref>{{cite web | url=https://archive.org/details/dr_qrakh-thraciae-veteris-typus-ex-conatibus-geographicis-abrah-ortelij-cu-10001403 | title=Qrakh. Thraciae Veteris Typus. Ex conatibus Geographicis Abrah. Ortelij. Cum Imp. Et Belgico privilegio decennali. 1585. | date=15 February 1585 }}</ref> which it self was also called Europe, before the term meant the continent.<ref name="BBC News 2013 o022">{{cite web | title=Greek goddess Europa adorns new five-euro note | website=BBC News | date=2013-01-10 | url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-20970684 | access-date=2024-03-21}}</ref>

In classical [[Greek mythology]], [[Europa (consort of Zeus)|Europa]] ({{lang-grc|Εὐρώπη}}, {{transliteration|grc|Eurṓpē}}) was a [[Phoenicia]]n princess. One view is that her name derives from the [[Ancient Greek]] elements {{lang|grc|εὐρύς}} ({{transliteration|grc|eurús}}) 'wide, broad', and {{lang|grc|ὤψ}} ({{transliteration|grc|ōps}}, [[Genitive case|{{abbr|gen.|genitive}}]] {{lang|grc|ὠπός}}, {{transliteration|grc|ōpós}}) 'eye, face, countenance', hence their composite {{transliteration|grc|Eurṓpē}} would mean 'wide-gazing' or 'broad of aspect'.<ref name="WestWest2007">{{cite book|author1=M. L. West|first2=Morris|last2=West|title=Indo-European Poetry and Myth|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZXrJA_5LKlYC|date= 2007|publisher=OUP Oxford|isbn=978-0-19-928075-9|page=185|access-date=30 July 2022|archive-date=22 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210122123919/https://books.google.com/books?id=ZXrJA_5LKlYC|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="FitzRoy2015">{{cite book|first=Charles|last=FitzRoy|title=The Rape of Europa: The Intriguing History of Titian's Masterpiece|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zhF0BgAAQBAJ&pg=PT52|date=2015|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|isbn=978-1-4081-9211-5|pages=52–|access-date=30 July 2022|archive-date=20 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220320035838/https://books.google.com/books?id=zhF0BgAAQBAJ&pg=PT52|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Astour1967">{{cite book|first=Michael C.|last=Astour|title=Hellenosemitica: An Ethnic and Cultural Study in West Semitic Impact on Mycenaean Greece|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NMkUAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA128|year=1967|publisher=Brill Archive|page=128|id=GGKEY:G19ZZ3TSL38|access-date=30 July 2022|archive-date=20 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220320014449/https://books.google.com/books?id=NMkUAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA128|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=Europe|title=Europe – Origin and meaning of the name Europe by Online Etymology Dictionary|website=www.etymonline.com|access-date=30 July 2022|archive-date=17 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170917144349/http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=Europe|url-status=live}}</ref> ''Broad'' has been an [[epithet]] of Earth herself in the reconstructed [[Proto-Indo-European mythology|Proto-Indo-European religion]] and the poetry devoted to it.<ref name="WestWest2007"/> An alternative view is that of [[Robert S. P. Beekes|Robert Beekes]], who has argued in favour of a pre-Indo-European origin for the name, explaining that a derivation from {{transliteration|grc|eurus}} would yield a different [[toponymy|toponym]] than Europa. Beekes has located toponyms related to that of Europa in the territory of ancient Greece, and localities such as that of [[Europus (Almopia)|Europos]] in [[Macedonia (ancient kingdom)|ancient Macedonia]].<ref name="Beekes">{{cite journal |last1=Beekes |first1=Robert |title=Kadmos and Europa, and the Phoenicians |journal=Kadmos |date=2004 |volume=43 |issue=1 |pages=168–69 |doi=10.1515/kadm.43.1.167 |s2cid=162196643 |url=https://www.robertbeekes.nl/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/b118.pdf |access-date=30 July 2022 |archive-date=1 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211101121039/https://www.robertbeekes.nl/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/b118.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

There have been attempts to connect {{transliteration|grc|Eurṓpē}} to a Semitic term for ''west'', this being either [[Akkadian language|Akkadian]] {{transliteration|akk|erebu}} meaning 'to go down, set' (said of the sun) or [[Phoenician language|Phoenician]] {{transliteration|phn|'ereb}} 'evening, west',<ref>[http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=Europe "Europe"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170917144349/http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=Europe |date=17 September 2017 }} in the ''[[Online Etymology Dictionary]]''.</ref> which is at the origin of [[Arabic]] {{transliteration|ar|maghreb}} and [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] {{transliteration|he|ma'arav}}. [[Martin Litchfield West]] stated that "phonologically, the match between Europa's name and any form of the Semitic word is very poor",<ref>{{Cite book |author=M. L. West |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fIp0RYIjazQC&pg=PA451 |title=The east face of Helicon: west Asiatic elements in Greek poetry and myth |publisher=Clarendon Press |year=1997 |isbn=978-0-19-815221-7 |location=Oxford |page=451}}.</ref> while Beekes considers a connection to Semitic languages improbable.<ref name="Beekes"/>

Most major world languages use words derived from {{transliteration|grc|Eurṓpē}} or ''Europa'' to refer to the continent. Chinese, for example, uses the word {{transliteration|zh|pinyin|Ōuzhōu}} ({{lang|zh-Hant|歐洲}}/{{lang|zh-Hans|欧洲}}), which is an abbreviation of the transliterated name {{transliteration|zh|pinyin|Ōuluóbā zhōu}} ({{lang|zh|歐羅巴洲}}) ({{transliteration|zh|pinyin|zhōu}} means "continent"); a similar Chinese-derived term {{nihongo||欧州|Ōshū}} is also sometimes used in Japanese such as in the Japanese name of the European Union, {{nihongo||欧州連合|Ōshū Rengō}}, despite the [[katakana]] {{nihongo||ヨーロッパ|Yōroppa}} being more commonly used. In some Turkic languages, the originally Persian name {{transliteration|fa|[[Frangistan]]}} ("land of the [[Franks]]") is used casually in referring to much of Europe, besides official names such as {{transliteration|fa|Avrupa}} or {{transliteration|fa|Evropa}}.<ref name="davison">{{Cite journal|author=Davidson, Roderic H. |s2cid=157454140|title=Where is the Middle East?|jstor=20029452 |journal=Foreign Affairs |volume=38|issue=4 |pages=665–675 |year=1960|doi=10.2307/20029452 }}</ref>