There are two main theories as to how Europe was named, both revolving around Greece/the Greeks.
The first one involves Greek mythology – here is an excerpt from the following article:
Europe got its name from the Greek princess of Phoenicia, Europa. According to Greek mythology Zeus, the king of the Olympian Gods, transformed into a beautiful white bull to abduct the girl he loved…Europa was the only daughter of King Agenor (meaning heroic or manly in Greek) and Telephassa (meaning shining from afar), who were rulers of Phoenicia.
The second theory revolves around the meaning of the word ‘Europe’, from the article quoted above:
The word “Europe” is derived from the Greek words “eurus” (εύροσ-wide) and “ops” (ωψ-eye or face) but it is unknown whether the ancient Greeks thus named Europe after the facial characteristics they noticed in its inhabitants.
Currently, I am more inclined to go with the latter meaning since I do believe that at some point in time, Europeans were one ethnic group. Obviously, these people would have looked alike.
However, I have also been looking into mythology and discovering that much, if not all of it, contains some truth. This is because myths are rooted in truth, as I explained in this article. The Gods of Olympus were believed to be mortal (The Greek Origin of Freemasonry, 1956, 2nd edition, p. 108), so the aforementioned story may be literal.
Helen
