Εὐρώπη

See also: Ευρώπη

Ancient Greek

Uncertain, but either from:

εὐρύς (eurús) + ὤψ (ṓps), literally meaning "wide face" (as a description of the beauty of the mythical Europa) or "broad eye" (metaphorically meaning something like "as far as the eye can see")
Semitic origin; compare also Ἀσία (Asía), related to
- Akkadian 𒀭𒌓𒋙𒀀 (^dUD.ŠU₂.A /⁠erebu, erbu⁠/, “direction of the setting sun, occident, west”)
- Phoenician 𐤏𐤓𐤁 (ʿrb /⁠ʿereb⁠/, “evening”)
- Hebrew מַעֲרָב (maʿărāḇ, “occident, west”)
- Classical Syriac ܡܥܪܒܐ (maʿrəḇā, “occident, west”)
- Arabic غَرْب (ḡarb, “occident, west”) and غُرُوب (ḡurūb, “setting of the sun”)
- and specifically Aramaic עֲרוּבְתָּא f (ʿărūḇtā, “sunset; eve; Sabbath eve; Friday; Venus, Aphrodite”) of which the absolute state עֲרוּבָא f (ʿărūḇā) in the relevant Northwest Semitic chronolect and isolect would have lacked begedkefet and the second vowel /ɔː/
From a separate Semitic root related to guarantees and exchanges, found in Arabic عَرَبُون (ʕarabūn, “down payment”), Hebrew בֶּן‑עֲרֻבָּה (ben‑ʿărubbāh, “hostages”), Classical Syriac ܥܪܘܒܐ (ˁārōḇā, “hostages”), stemming from mythology in which Europa is famously abducted; see the story of Cadmus, a figure also with Semitic associations, who seeks after his kidnapped sister.

Εὐρώπη • (Eurṓpē) f (genitive Εὐρώπης); first declension

First declension of ἡ Εὐρώπη; τῆς Εὐρώπης (Attic)

Case / #	Singular
Nominative	ἡ Εὐρώπη hē Eurṓpē
Genitive	τῆς Εὐρώπης tês Eurṓpēs
Dative	τῇ Εὐρώπῃ têi Eurṓpēi
Accusative	τὴν Εὐρώπην tḕn Eurṓpēn
Vocative	Εὐρώπη Eurṓpē
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

The personal name rarely takes a definite article.

“Εὐρώπη”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
“Εὐρώπη”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited, page 1,010
Rotter, Gernot (1993) “Der dies veneris im vorislamischen Mekka, eine neue Deutung des Namens „Europa“ und eine Erklärung für kobar = Venus”, in Der Islam‎ (in German), volume 70, number 1, →DOI, pages 122–139

This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.