Re: OT: Renaming the continents

Thomas R. Wier writes:
 > Quoting Tim May <butsuri@...>:
 >
 > > Thomas R. Wier writes:
 > >  > Quoting Tim May <butsuri@...>:
 > >  >
 > >  > > All the continents seem to have essentially
 > >  > > been named by Europeans, which in itself seems rather unfair.  Europe
 > >  > > clearly doesn't deserve the same status as the other continents on any
 > >  > > geographical ground.
 > >  >
 > >  > You're forgetting that for centuries, even well after the discovery
 > >  > of the Americas, Europeans did not refer to "Europe" as a
 > >  > geographical or geopolitical entity at all.  They referred
 > >  > to "Christendom", which was, until just before the discovery
 > >  > of the Americas, essentially coextensive with what we now call
 > >  > "Europe".  "Europe" only came to be used in its current sense
 > >  > after the humanism of the late Renaissance and the extension
 > >  > of the (Muslim) Ottoman Empire deep into the Balkans.
 > >  >
 > > In what sense was Europe used previously to this?
 >
 > It was an extremely learned and never very well-defined name for
 > vaguely western lands.  The name likely derives from the Semitic
 > _ereb_ "land of the setting sun".
 >
Interesting.  Does this mean it's unrelated to the mythological
character Europa, or do they share a common root?

In any case, interesting as all this is, I don't see how it is
relevant to my principle point here, which is that Europe and Asia do
not form an natural set with the other regions designated by the term
continent in modern English (and, secondarily, that this is related to
the European origin of these terms).  Precisely when these words came
into their current use is beside the point.

 > >  > Besides, I don't see why geography should be the only salient
 > >  > determiner of placenames.
 > >  >
 > >  > > Returning to the new world, Vespucci doesn't seem to have done
 > >  > > anything to justify naming most of the Western Hemisphere after
 > >  > > him.
 > >  >
 > >  > Actually, Amerigo Vespucci didn't name them after himself.
 > >  > The German cartographer, Martin Waldseemüller, who produced
 > >  > the first map of the world that incorporated the two
 > >  > continents, named them after him.
 > >
 > > I know.  I didn't say he named them after himself - I said he didn't
 > > do anything to justify naming them after him.
 >
 > Ah -- sorry.  I misinterpreted that as a typo.  Anyways, he didn't
 > name the entire Western Hemisphere after Amerigo Vespucci, but rather
 > only after what we now call South America, which Vespucci did in fact
 > discover;  at that time, North America was still called the "Indies".
 > It was only decades after both Waldseemüller and Vespucci were dead
 > that North America was called by that name as well.
 >
True - but I was referring to the modern use of the name.