Editing Euboea (section)

==Name==
{{further|Euboea (mythology)}}
Like most of the Greek islands, Euboea was known by other names in [[Ancient Greece|antiquity]], such as ''Macris'' (Μάκρις) and ''Doliche'' (Δολίχη) from its elongated shape, or ''Ellopia'' (after Ellops the son of [[Ion (mythology)|Ion]]), ''Aonia'' and ''Abantis'' from the tribes inhabiting it,{{sfn|Tozer|1911|p=866}} or ''Ocha/Oche'' (Ὄχη), which is also the name of one of the highest mountains on the island.<ref name="Strabo">[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0198:book=10:chapter=1 Strabo, Geography, 10.1]</ref>
Its ancient and current name, Εὔβοια, derives from the words εὖ "good", and βοῦς "ox", meaning "(the land of) the well(-fed) oxen". [[Strabo]] writes that it took the name Euboea either by the heroine Euboea or because of a cave on the island at the Aegaean coast which was called [[Boösaule]] ({{lang|grc|βοὸς αὐλὴ}}, meaning {{gloss|cow's stall}}) and there [[Io (mythology)|Io]] was said to have given birth to [[Epaphus]].<ref name="Strabo"/>

In the [[Middle Ages]], the island was often referred to by [[Byzantine]] authors by the name of its capital, ''[[Chalcis]]'' (Χαλκίς) or [[Euripus Strait|''Euripos'']] (Εὔριπος,) the name of the strait that separates the island from the Greek mainland, although the ancient name Euboea remained in use by classicizing authors until the 16th century.

The phrase στὸν Εὔριπον 'to Evripos', [[rebracketing|rebracketed]] as στὸ Νεὔριπον 'to Nevripos', became ''Negroponte'' ("Black Bridge") in [[Italian language|Italian]] by [[folk etymology]], the ''ponte'' 'bridge' being interpreted as the bridge of Chalcis. This name was most relevant when the island was under [[Venetian Greece|Venetian rule]].<ref name="gibbon">Edward Gibbon, ''[[The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire]]'', J.B. Bury, ed., Methuen, 1898 [https://books.google.com/books?id=FeU7AQAAIAAJ&pg=PA390 p. '''6''':390], footnote 69</ref> That name entered common use in the West in the 13th century,<ref name="ODB"/> with other variants being Egripons, Negripo, and Negropont.<ref name="gibbon"/>

Under [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] rule, the island and its capital were known as ''Eğriboz'' or ''Ağriboz'', again after the Euripos strait.