MYTHOLOGICAL NAMES. 
25 
oblivion and darkness becomes as clear as if seen in broad 
day-light. This original meaning is discovered by collecting 
all the words which are similar in form to the word under 
discussion and convey meanings which may be easily con- 
nected with its meaning ; and by comparing the word both 
in form and meaning with the words collected. The above 
grouping must be only provisional ; for it is not a rule that 
every word that is similar in form and meaning to another 
word is allied to it. In our research we have recourse to 
the history of each word compared, and take what other 
philologists and lexicographers have said, and build up our 
theories partly on our own observations and partly on the 
historical evidence we receive. "When this evidence is nega- 
tive, we are obliged to rest satisfied with mere conjectures ; 
thus, for instance, I have proposed an etymology for the 
Greek word dadfMtv9o<; (a bathing tub), about the deriva- 
tion of which the Grreek lexicographers and philologists are 
uncertain, and I have connected the word with Sans. 3T>^- 
asmanta * a hearth. ' I shall here give some examples to 
illustrate the above method of investigation. 
The name of the continent Europe is derived from 
Greek Eiipwirt] which in Grecian mythology is applied first 
to one of the Oceanides and occurs in Hesiod. In later 
works EvpcoTTT) is described as the daughter of Agenor, king 
of Phoenicia and Telephassa. Jupiter loved her and assumed 
the form of a bull and appeared among the herds of Agenor. 
Evpcoirr), who was gathering flowers in a meadow near 
the herds, was charmed with the beauty of the bull and 
approached the animal to caress it. In her fondness for it 
she ventured to sit on the animal and was carried away by 
it to Crete. Jupiter assumed his original form again and 
expressed to her his love, which was reciprocated by her. 
She gave birth to Minos I, who was adopted by Asterius, king 
of Crete, whom she subsequently married. Minos I is said 
to have been the propounder of certain laws to his subjects 
4 
