The word Europe is thought to possibly be etymologically derived from the Greek words

Uris and Ops, which mean roughly

wide and face, respectively.

Europa is also a character from Greek mythology, the daughter of a Phoenician king,

who Zeus had a thing for. So Zeus transformed himself into a bull, seduced her, and while still in the shape of a

bull, had a trio of kids with her on the island of Crete. Those kids, all sons, became judges in the

underworld. So one of the mainstream theories about the origins of the name of the landmass we now call

Europe is that the Greeks may be referred to it as a wide-faced language. mainstream theories about the origins of the name of the landmass we now call Europe,

is that the Greeks may be referred to it as a wide-faced landmass,

which it arguably is, it's wide rather than tall,

based on how we usually portray such things cartographically,

but it also may be stemmed from this mythological character in some way.

This Greek term then maybe filtered through Latin

and thus ended up in English as Europe.

There's another theory that the name may be originated with a Phoenician word,

Arab, which means something like evening or west,

and the Acadian word, Arabou, which means something like

to go down or set, referring to the sun. Mesopotamian cultures, which, as far as we know,

are the origin places of what we might call civilization, are generally east of what we today

call Europe, and thus to their west would be something

that you might call the land of the setting sun, or the western land, and the term for this meaning

would sound something like Europe. There's a chance, then, that the concept of Europe, as a place,

...