what is the origin of the name asia?

Answer 1

The word Asia entered English, via Latin, from Ancient Greek Ασία (Asia; see also List of traditional Greek place names). This name is first attested in Herodotus (about 440 BC), where it refers to Asia Minor; or, for the purposes of describing the Persian Wars, to the Persian Empire, in contrast to Greece and Egypt. Herodotus comments that he is puzzled as to why three different women's names are used to describe a single land mass (Europa, Asia and Libya, referring to Africa), stating that most Greeks assumed that Asia was named after the wife of Prometheus but that the Lydians say it was named after Asias, son of Cotys who passed the name on to a tribe in Sardis.

Even before Herodotus, Homer knew of a Trojan ally named Asios, son of Hyrtacus, a ruler over several towns, and elsewhere he describes a marsh as ασιος (Iliad 2, 461). The Greek term may be derived from Assuwa, a 14th century BC confederation of states in Western Anatolia. Hittite assu- "good" is probably an element in that name.

Alternatively, the ultimate etymology of the term may be from the Akkadian word (w)aṣû(m), cognate of Hebrew יצא, which means "to go out" or "to ascend", referring to the direction of the sun at sunrise in the Middle East, and also likely connected with the Phoenician word asa meaning east. This may be contrasted to a similar etymology proposed for Europe, as being from Semitic erēbu "to enter" or "set" (of the sun). However, this etymology is considered doubtful, because it does not explain the fact that the term "Asia" first came to be associated with Anatolia, which actually lies west of the Semitic-speaking areas

Answer 2

Origin Of The Word Asia

Answer 3

Asia

Answer 4

Asia
In early Classical times, the term "Asia" referred only to the small region known today as Anatolia (a part of Turkey). Eventually however, the name came to denote the much larger land area with which we associate it today.

The etymology of Asia can only be guessed at. The strongest possibility is that it derives from a borrowed Semitic root "Asu", which means varyingly 'rising' or 'light', of course a directional referring to the sunrise, Asia thus meaning 'Eastern Land'.

Answer 5

Asia originally referred to just one small region, not the whole continent. In this instance, the region is now called Turkey. Asia may have its origin in the Assyrian word asu, "to rise", implying the direction from which the sun rises. Another suggestion is that the word is related to the Sanskrit usha, "dawn". Once again, this is because (to Europeans) Asia is where the dawn comes from

Answer 6

in ancient times, Asia was a region of what is present day easthern Turkey, later became a roman province and just like the case of Africa, a roman province ended up as baseto name a continent.

Answer 7

The people there had a butt disease called assia. Their butts would swell up so much it pulled the skin tight around their faces slightly slanting their eyes. They considered themselves Assians. Through the years somehow it was shortened to Asia.

Answer 8

I'm not sure but I think it originated with people around Greece refering to the Arabia area. Try looking up that on a history site, maybe? Well, I guess that got answered, already.