Why are the continent named as Asia,Africa,Antartica etc?

Answer 1

Africa: Two theories-

Afri was the name of several peoples who dwelt in North Africa near the provincial capital, Carthage. The Roman suffix "-ca" denotes "country or land"

So, Afri + ca = Africa, land of the Afri peoples.

It could also be from the the Latin word "aprica", meaning "sunny".

Asia:

We got this one from latin too, and it's from the ancient greek word. "Ασία". At first it was just used to refer to the near east, which is as much of Asia as the Romans and Greeks knew much about, but then the term came to be used for the whole continent.

Antarctica:

The name Antarctica comes from the Greek ανταρκτικός (antarktikos), meaning "opposite to the Arctic."
Arctic comes from "arktikos", and refers to the Great Bear constellation to the north, and thus the lands to the far north.

Europe:

From the greek mythological figure Europa.
At first it just referred to the island of Crete, then to mainland Greece, then the rest of Europe.

Australia:

The name "Australia" is derived from the Latin "Australis", meaning "of the South".

America:

An Italian mapmaker named Amerigo Vespucci decided his name looked nice on that mysterious landmass to the west...

Answer 2

The name Antarctica comes from the Greek ανταρκτικός (antarktikos), meaning "opposite to the Arctic." Although myths and speculation about a Terra Australis ("Southern Land") date back to antiquity, the first confirmed sighting of the continent is commonly accepted to have occurred in 1820 by the Russian expedition of Mikhail Lazarev and Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen.

Also, interestingly Arctic comes from the latin of bear and in polar bear. Thinking about it Antarctica does not have polar bears hence ant-arctica, opposite of bear pole.

Answer 3

Asia comes from the assyrian asia, which means sunrise.
Africa is named after a people in north africa named the afridi or something like that. (There are other explanations which are sound. Check the sources.)
Antarctica simply means "on the opposite" of the arctic (latin).
Australia comes from australis (donno if this is greek or latin) and means "south".
Oceania comes from ocean, or more exactly the greek okeanos, i think.
Europe was named after a mythical figure of the greek.
Arctica comes from the greek arktos, which menas "bear". Arktikos meant "land under the great bear" to them. Of course this refers to the stars.
America was named after one explorer, Amerigo Vespucci.

Answer 4

America was named by its discoverer John Cabot, after his sponsor, a Welshman called Richard Ameryk.