Re: OT: continents

Skrivet gant # 1:

> Do y'all know where I could find the etymology of the continents' names?
>
> Except Oceania, that's obviously derived from ocean, where are the other
> names from?
>
> I think Europe is a mythologic greek Zeus's lover, mother of Minos, and
> transformed into a white bull so I don't know what's the link with a
> continent..
>
> But, particularily for Asia and Africa, where are the names from?
>
> Could someone help me?
>
>
> - Max
>
America comes from the name of an Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci.
Africa was originally the name of a Roman province created on what had
been carthage (present day Tunisia). The name itself meant "land of the
Afri (singular afer). Nobody knows for sure what the Afri were
Asia was the name of the Roman province created on the territiry of the
former kingdom of Pergame. I am not sure about the etymology., maybe
from Semitic Asu (rising or light), meaning "the eastern land"
As for the link between Zeus' lver and the name of the continent...
there is none. It's all folk etymology. The word Europa once reffered to
what is now Thrace. Its etymology is unknown, maybe Semitic Ereb
"darkness/descent" ultimately meaning "the western land"
Arctic comes from greek arctos "bear" and refers o the constellation of
the Great Bear, which is visible only from the northern hemisphere.
Antarctica means "the opposite of the arctic"

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