The Etymology of Europe

The Etymology of Europe:

This entry on the name Europe is not exactly poetic.The prefix eu- often means "well" or "good".

I believe the word to originate from the following words to roughly translate Europe as: Triumphal intuitive ethical densely populated epicenter of wealth; not in any way to be confused with Arabia.

Main Entry: ¹eu·re·ka 

Pronunciation: \yu̇-ˈrē-kə\

Function: interjection

Etymology: Greek heurēka I have found, from heuriskein to find; from the exclamation attributed to Archimedes on discovering a method for determining the purity of gold — more at heuristic

Date: 1603

—used to express triumph on a discovery

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Main Entry: ¹heu·ris·tic 

Pronunciation: \hyu̇-ˈris-tik\

Function: adjective

Etymology: German heuristisch, from New Latin heuristicus, from Greek heuriskein to discover; akin to Old Irish fo-fúair he found

Date: 1821

: involving or serving as an aid to learning, discovery, or problem-solving by experimental and especially trial-and-error methods ; also : of or relating to exploratory problem-solving techniques that utilize self-educating techniques (as the evaluation of feedback) to improve performance

— heu·ris·ti·cal·ly  \-ti-k(ə-)lē\ adverb

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Main Entry: opus 

Pronunciation: \ˈō-pəs\

Function: noun

Inflected Form(s): plural op·era   \ˈō-pə-rə, ˈä-\ also opus·es  \ˈō-pə-səz\

Etymology: Latin oper-, opus — more at operate

Date: 1809

: work; especially : a musical composition or set of compositions usually numbered in the order of its issue

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Main Entry: pop·u·lous 

Pronunciation: \ˈpä-pyə-ləs\

Function: adjective

Etymology: Middle English, from Latin populosus, from populus people

Date: 15th century

1 a : densely populated b : having a large population
2 a : numerous b : filled to capacity

— pop·u·lous·ly adverb

— pop·u·lous·ness noun

Main Entry: op·u·lent

Pronunciation: \-lənt\

Function: adjective

Etymology: Latin opulentus, from ops power, help; akin to Latin opus work

Date: 1523

: exhibiting or characterized by opulence: as a : having a large estate or property : wealthy b : amply or plentifully provided or fashioned often to the point of ostentation

synonyms see rich

— op·u·lent·ly adverb

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europa_(continent)#Etymology

2010

In ancient Greek mythology, Europa was a Phoenician princess whom Zeus abducted after assuming the form of a dazzling white bull. He took her to the island of Crete where she gave birth to Minos, Rhadamanthus and Sarpedon. For Homer, Europe (Greek: Εὐρώπη, Eurṓpē; see also List of traditional Greek place names) was a mythological queen of Crete, not a geographical designation. Later, Europa stood for central-north Greece, and by 500 BC its meaning had been extended to the lands to the north.

The name of Europa is of uncertain etymology.^[19] One theory suggests that it is derived from the Greek roots meaning broad (eur-) and eye (op-, opt-), hence Eurṓpē, "wide-gazing", "broad of aspect" (compare with glaukōpis (grey-eyed) Athena or boōpis (ox-eyed) Hera). Broad has been an epithet of Earth itself in the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European religion.^[20] Another theory suggests that it is actually based on a Semitic word such as the Akkadian erebu meaning "to go down, set" (cf. Occident),^[21] cognate to Phoenician 'ereb "evening; west" and Arabic Maghreb, Hebrew ma'ariv (see also Erebus, PIE *h₁regʷos, "darkness"). However, M. L. West states that "phonologically, the match between Europa's name and any form of the Semitic word is very poor".^[22]

Most major world languages use words derived from "Europa" to refer to the continent. Chinese, for example, uses the word Ōuzhōu (歐洲), which is an abbreviation of the translitreated name Ōuluóbā zhōu (歐羅巴洲); however, in some Turkic languages the name Frengistan (land of the Franks) is used casually in referring to much of Europe, besides official names such as Avrupa or Evropa.^[23]

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