[251] ΕὐρώπΗν: “Europe” here apparently means N. Greece. It is quite reasonable to suppose that the geographical term, like “Ἀσία” and “Ἑλλάς” was gradually extended, as men's knowledge of the world widened. Byz. Steph. and E. M. 397. 45 derive “Εὐρώπη” from “Εὔρωπος”, a Macedonian city ( Thuc.ii. 100). The etymology is so far valuable, in that it points to a belief among the ancients themselves, that “Europe” was once a term for N. Greece; Hegesippus (fr. 6, F. H. G. v. 422 f.), a native of Mecyberna, states that Europe was used in the narrow sense: “ἀφ᾽ ἧς” (sc. Europa) “καὶ ἡ ἤπειρος πᾶσα ἡ πρὸς Βορέαν ἄνεμον Εὐρώπη κέκληται”. Fick (B. B. xxii. p. 225) explains the meaning by “flatland,” opposed to “στενωπός”. M. Arnold's paraphrase “Wide Prospect” rests on an explanation (of Hermann) that Europe was the broad expanse of land stretching from Thrace to the Peloponnese, as it appeared to the Greeks in Asia Minor.
Byz. Steph. (s.v. “Ἀσία”) observes that Homer does not know “Εὐρώπη”. But the substitution of “ἤπειρον” (Reiz, Gemoll), on this ground, is quite unjustifiable. It is true that Stephanus considers the hymn to be Homer's (cf. on 224); but he may easily have overlooked the present passage, and he could not fail to be struck by the absence of the word in the Il.and
The Homeric Hymns, edited, with preface, apparatus criticus, notes, and appendices. Thomas W. Allen. E. E. Sikes. London. Macmillan. 1904.
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