Εὐρώπη

See also: Ευρώπη

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

• Εὐρώπᾱ (Eurṓpā) — Doric
• Εὐρωπίᾱ (Eurōpíā) — poetic

Etymology

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.

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /eu̯.rɔ̌ː.pɛː/ → /eˈβro.pi/ → /eˈvro.pi/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /eu̯.rɔ̌ː.pɛː/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ewˈro.pe̝/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /eˈβro.pi/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /eˈvro.pi/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /eˈvro.pi/

Proper noun

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

1. (Greek mythology) Europa, a Phoenician princess abducted to Crete by Zeus
2. Europe, a continent

Inflection

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.

Descendants

• Greek: Ευρώπη (Evrópi)
  • → Albanian: Evropa, Evropë
  • → Aromanian: Evropa
• → Latin: Europa (see there for further descendants)
• → Old Armenian: Եւրոպա (Ewropa), Եւրոպիա (Ewropia)

References

• “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^[1], 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^[2] (in German), volume 70, number 1, →DOI, pages 122–139