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To: Verginius Rufus

Very interesting.

America is a good name, easily pronounced and spelled.


72 posted on 01/07/2025 1:43:40 PM PST by Freee-dame ( )
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To: Freee-dame
I was repeating what I recalled from a book by Samuel Eliot Morison which I read a long time ago.

The mapmaker, Waldseemueller, when he came up with the name America, wanted it to be similar to the names for the other continents (Latin feminines)--Europa, Africa, Asia.

All of these names originally applied to a much smaller area--Europe was a portion of the Balkans, Africa was roughly modern Tunisia, and Asia was a portion of western Asia Minor (an early form of the name is already found in the Hittite records from the second millennium BC). The mention of Asia in Acts 2.9 would be the older meaning--just a portion of Asia Minor. It was only later that America was applied to both continents.

75 posted on 01/07/2025 3:10:11 PM PST by Verginius Rufus
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