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Why did they name it Europa anyway? Seems like it will cause all sorts of confusion amidst hilarious typos. "Scientists speculate about Europe's ability to sup

Why did they name it Europa anyway? Seems like it will cause all sorts of confusion amidst hilarious typos. "Scientists speculate about Europe's ability to support intelligent life." Perhaps we should rename it "Vulcan" or "Krypton" or some recognizably alien name to reduce the chances for misunderstanding.

arrrg 10y ago
The four Galilean moons (Io, Europa, Ganymede, Callisto) all derive their names from lovers of Zeus in Greek mythology (who is Jupiter in Roman mythology). Zeus famously transformed himself into a bull and abducted Europa. Europe as a continent name is pretty messy and incoherent from an etymological point of view – but most words are. Europa as a name for a moon of Jupiter makes a lot of sense. English has the additional advantage of Europe (the continent) and Europa (the moon) being written differently. In, for example, German both are written the same (Europa). (Zeus obviously has more than four lovers and other moons of Jupiter derive their names from those, as well as pretty much anyone who had anything at all to do with Zeus.)
baddox 10y ago
The Galilean moons are all named after Zeus' lovers. They were named shortly after their discovery in the early 1600s by Simon Marius, a German astronomer who apparently discovered the moons independently of Galileo at roughly the same time as Galileo.
- narag 10y ago
  Then Europe, the continent, was defined later by this guy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasily_Tatishchev https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasily_Tatishchev
  - gus_massa 10y ago
    The Wikipedia article doesn't say anything about the story of the name of Europe. Do you have a link about it?
    - narag 10y ago
      Not in English, sorry. He was the author of some kind of paper to defend that Russia was part of Europe, not Asia. Edit: Oh, I'd read too fast. The history of the name is in the article for Europe that mnl linked above. This guy didn't invent the name that, as mnl noted, was used since... forever. He just happened to define what we call Europe today. In classical Greece it was used to mean the lands west and north of Greece. They didn't know of, let's say, Scandinavia.
  - mnl 10y ago
    Huh? It's a geographical term for the mass of land that has been in use since the classical antiquity: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe#Etymology https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe#Etymology
    - narag 10y ago
      The meaning at the time was not so inclusive though.
    - thaumasiotes 10y ago
      Similarly, "Asia" has been used since antiquity as a term for the Near East, but for almost all of that time it certainly did not refer to what we now call "the continent of Asia". Are you more likely to think of Asia as containing Syria or China?
- ridgeguy 10y ago
  And a little OT, but Jupiter's wife, Juno, is due to arrive in orbit this coming July 4th. [1] Juno was no shrinking violet [2]. Should make for an interesting telemetry stream... [1] https://www.missionjuno.swri.edu/#/mission https://www.missionjuno.swri.edu/#/mission [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juno_(mythology) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juno_(mythology)
erikb 10y ago
It's not a typo. "Europa" is the original name of the goddes (or god's wife/girlfriend/whatever she was). And in quite a few european languages (like German) the actual word for the continent is "Europa" as well. So the problem is bigger than you thought. > "Scientists speculate about Europe's ability to support intelligent life." This would only be a problem though, if it wouldn't apply to all interpretations of "Europa".
- blisterpeanuts 10y ago
  I didn't say it was a typo. I said it would make for some amusing typos.
- thaumasiotes 10y ago
  > (or god's wife/girlfriend/whatever she was) "Woman".

arrrg 10y ago

The four Galilean moons (Io, Europa, Ganymede, Callisto) all derive their names from lovers of Zeus in Greek mythology (who is Jupiter in Roman mythology). Zeus famously transformed himself into a bull and abducted Europa. Europe as a continent name is pretty messy and incoherent from an etymological point of view – but most words are. Europa as a name for a moon of Jupiter makes a lot of sense. English has the additional advantage of Europe (the continent) and Europa (the moon) being written differently. In, for example, German both are written the same (Europa). (Zeus obviously has more than four lovers and other moons of Jupiter derive their names from those, as well as pretty much anyone who had anything at all to do with Zeus.)

baddox 10y ago

The Galilean moons are all named after Zeus' lovers. They were named shortly after their discovery in the early 1600s by Simon Marius, a German astronomer who apparently discovered the moons independently of Galileo at roughly the same time as Galileo.

narag 10y ago
Then Europe, the continent, was defined later by this guy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasily_Tatishchev https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasily_Tatishchev
- gus_massa 10y ago
  The Wikipedia article doesn't say anything about the story of the name of Europe. Do you have a link about it?
  - narag 10y ago
    Not in English, sorry. He was the author of some kind of paper to defend that Russia was part of Europe, not Asia. Edit: Oh, I'd read too fast. The history of the name is in the article for Europe that mnl linked above. This guy didn't invent the name that, as mnl noted, was used since... forever. He just happened to define what we call Europe today. In classical Greece it was used to mean the lands west and north of Greece. They didn't know of, let's say, Scandinavia.
- mnl 10y ago
  Huh? It's a geographical term for the mass of land that has been in use since the classical antiquity: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe#Etymology https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe#Etymology
  - narag 10y ago
    The meaning at the time was not so inclusive though.
  - thaumasiotes 10y ago
    Similarly, "Asia" has been used since antiquity as a term for the Near East, but for almost all of that time it certainly did not refer to what we now call "the continent of Asia". Are you more likely to think of Asia as containing Syria or China?
ridgeguy 10y ago
And a little OT, but Jupiter's wife, Juno, is due to arrive in orbit this coming July 4th. [1] Juno was no shrinking violet [2]. Should make for an interesting telemetry stream... [1] https://www.missionjuno.swri.edu/#/mission https://www.missionjuno.swri.edu/#/mission [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juno_(mythology) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juno_(mythology)

erikb 10y ago

It's not a typo. "Europa" is the original name of the goddes (or god's wife/girlfriend/whatever she was). And in quite a few european languages (like German) the actual word for the continent is "Europa" as well. So the problem is bigger than you thought. > "Scientists speculate about Europe's ability to support intelligent life." This would only be a problem though, if it wouldn't apply to all interpretations of "Europa".

blisterpeanuts 10y ago
I didn't say it was a typo. I said it would make for some amusing typos.
thaumasiotes 10y ago
> (or god's wife/girlfriend/whatever she was) "Woman".