origin of "Europe", "Caucasian

[mazinger-z]

I know that Africa and Asia used to be Roman provinces, and I assume that they gave their names to the continents they were on, but what about Europe? When exactly did Europe come to be called "Europe," and where did that name come from?

On a related topic, I would also like to know where the term "Caucasian" came from. I checked in the dictionary, and it mentioned that the Caucasus region was where the first white man was supposedly sighted, but it didn't give any more details. How about some help?

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Pretend this has Gwendolyn Brooks'
poem 'We Real Cool' here, 'coz it's
got too many lines to fit comfortably
(too bad, it's my favourite poem).

[Alphagene]

From EB:
"Europa," as the more learned of the ancient Greeks first conceived it, stood in sharp contrast to both Asia and Libya, the name then applied to the known northern part of Africa. Literally, "Europa" is now thought to have meant "Mainland," rather than the earlier interpretation, "Sunset."
The Caucasus region is located between the Black and Caspian seas. The Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan area.


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Gypsy: Tom, I don't get you.
Tom Servo: Nobody does. I'm the wind, baby.

[Alphagene]

Hell, if you really want detail:
The name Caucasus is a Latinized form of Kaukasos .... The ultimate derivation is thought to be from Kaz-kaz, the Hittite name for a people living on the southern shore of the Black Sea.

[Ursa Major]

I thought Europa was one of Zeus' many rape victims. I recall a story of Zeus taking the form of a bull and chasing her all the way from Greece to the Atlantic (giving the land she crossed its name). Anyway, Zues caught her, knocked her up and the resulting offspring was King Minos of Crete.

[Boris B]

I think "caucasian", as it is most commonly used, is a corruption of Caucasoid. White people as a whole were referred to as the Caucasoid Race since Caucasians typified the race. That is, every Caucasoid ethnic group should look more or less like Caucasians, even if they didn't look much like each other. Scottsmen don't look much like Hindustanis, but the Caucasians are in between, so to speak.

The "three race" system has fallen out of favor. Nobody calls Vietnamese, or Japanese, or Malays "Mongoloid people" any more. Least not out loud. Ditto for the "Negroid Race", which contained teensy Bushmen, towering Tutsis, and straight-haired Ethiopians.

I'm just pointing out that it wasn't really proper in the old anthropological taxonomy to call any body caucasian, except folks from the Caucasus. (The racial definition has made into the dictionary, though. It's just not "anthropologically correct".)

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What part of "I don't know" don't you understand?

[Kyla]

This is according to my Islam professor:

"Europe" comes from a Semitic word meaning "evening." I'm not sure which language directly contributed the word, but the Hebrew word for evening is erev. The sun sets in the west, and since Europe is to the west of lands in which Semitic languages are spoken, it was named after the evening.



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~Harborina

"Don't Do It."

[Alphagene]

Zeus taking the form of a bull and chasing her all the way from Greece to the Atlantic (giving the land she crossed its name).
EB says she was chased from Phoenecia (now Syria and Lebanon) to Crete.

Kyla, I guess that is the "sunset" meaning that EB says has fallen out of favor.

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Gypsy: Tom, I don't get you.
Tom Servo: Nobody does. I'm the wind, baby.

[mazinger-z]

Thank you, Great Hammer, for the answer to my Europe question. What I wanted to know from the Caucasian question was the details of the story about the first white man. Who sighted him? Is it some kind of myth? As always, your help (meaning all of you) is appreciated.

[mazinger-z]

I forgot to add, no one answered me about when Europe started to be called Europe. Sometime in the First Millenium, say the latter half? Is that a close guess?

------------------
Pretend this has Gwendolyn Brooks'
poem 'We Real Cool' here, 'coz it's
got too many lines to fit comfortably
(too bad, it's my favourite poem).

[Earl Snake-Hips Tucker]

I asked a question very similar to this a while back. FYI, here is that thread:

http://boards.straightdope.com/ubb/Forum3/HTML/003001.html

[ASPA]

Originally posted by Kyla:
This is according to my Islam professor:

"Europe" comes from a Semitic word meaning "evening." I'm not sure which language directly contributed the word, but the Hebrew word for evening is erev. The sun sets in the west, and since Europe is to the west of lands in which Semitic languages are spoken, it was named after the evening.


Excellent key to the origin....