Europe’s name and its share of Eurasia

The origin of the name “Europe” is uncertain. One hypothesis connects it with Phoenician *‘ereb* or Akkadian *erebu*, words associated with “evening,” “west,” or “to set”; this is not established fact and is not the only proposal. Common geographic estimates put Europe at about 10.2 million km² and Eurasia at about 55 million km². That is roughly 18.5%, a little less than one fifth; the result depends on the boundaries used for the continent.