EUROPE

[Dr. Goodword]

• Europe •

Pronunciation: yu-rêp • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun, proper

Meaning: One of the seven major continents of Earth, stretching from the eastern rim of the Atlantic Ocean north of Africa, to the Bosporus in Turkey and Ural Mountains in Russia.

Notes: The adjective for today’s word is, of course, European. Because it refers to a peoples, no adverb or noun should be possible, but Europeanness is understandable and has been used more than once.

In Play: With the failure of the first European Union constitution to pass, you might think that the center is falling out of the European Union movement. But that is hardly the case; the plethora of clippings with Euro flooding European languages demonstrate how strong the sense of unity is. There is Eurovision which broadcasts the Euronews, Euroinvestors who buy Euroequities, even Eurotrash who often buy Eurojunk (bonds). Only Eurocommunism shows any sign of disintegrating. The new pan-European monetary unit, the Euro, is this clipped form standing alone.

Word History: The eponym of this Good Word was, Europa, a woman in Greek mythology from the Levant, the area occupied today by Israel, Lebanon, and Syria. One myth has Europa seduced by the god Zeus in the form of a bull and carried away to Crete on his back. According to Herodotus, however, she was kidnapped by Minoans, who likewise were said to have taken her to Crete. Either way, the mythical Europa cannot be separated from the mythology of the sacred bull, which was worshipped in the Levant. The etymology of her name, euru- "wide, broad" + op- "eye(s)", suggests that Europa represented a cow at some symbolic level.

[M. Henri Day]

Wide-eyed and cow-like - that's we Europeans to a «T». If only Zeus would keep his distance !...

Henri

[KatyBr]

I keep thinking that should be "That's Us, Europeans.....

Kt,
<<we>> just looks odd there.

[tcward]

Either way, the mythical Europa cannot be separated from the mythology of the sacred bull, which was worshipped in the Levant.

I was also wondering if there might be a connection with the sacred cows of India...?

[M. Henri Day]

I keep thinking that should be "That's Us, Europeans.....

<<we>> just looks odd there.

Wide-eyed and cow-like and speaking funny - that's we Europeans. Below find the picture our good doctor chose to illustrate all this...



Henri

[Stargzer]

I keep thinking that should be "That's Us, Europeans.....

<<we>> just looks odd there.

Wide-eyed and cow-like and speaking funny - that's we Europeans. . . .

Henri

. . . and with their own herd of Sacred Cows . . .

[M. Henri Day]

...

. . . and with their own herd of Sacred Cows . . . :wink:

Bulls, Larry, Sacred Bulls....

Henri

[KatyBr]

...

. . . and with their own herd of Sacred Cows . . .

Bulls, Larry, Sacred Bulls....

Henri

I'd say bull is more like it.

Kt

[Stargzer]

...

. . . and with their own herd of Sacred Cows . . .

Bulls, Larry, Sacred Bulls....

Henri

I thought those came from The Vatican.

That must be a European bull in the picture; it's sticking its tongue out at us!

For those with a Conservative bent . . .

[M. Henri Day]

Larry, those bulls that issue from the Vatican are desperate to escape - you know what those chaps do to male statues ! And let me assure you that we Europeans only stick our tongues out in a westerly direction in our most secret dreams ; we'd never dare to do it in real-time. Why John Bolton'd be chasing us down one hotel corridor after the other....

Henri