אֵירוֹפָּה f.n. FW Europe. [Gk. Europe (whence L. Eurōpa which is prob. of Sem. origin). cp. Akka. ’erēbu (= to enter, go in; to go down, set — said of the sun), ’erēb shamshi (= sunset), from the Sem. stem ערב (= to set — said of the sun). Accordingly Europe orig. meant ‘the Region of the Setting Sun’. cp. Hesychius who renders Europe with the words chora tes duseos (= the Land of the Setting Sun). cp. also Erbos (= place of nether darkness), which derives from Heb. עֶרֶב. The form Europe (as if the name meant ‘broad face’), is due to the natural tendency of the Greeks to grecize words foreign to their language. For the sense development of Gk. Europe from a Sem. word meaning ‘sunset, evening’, cp. אַסֽיָה.] Derivative: אֵירוֹפִּי. cp. the first element in אֵירַסְיָה.