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58 The name **"Atlantic"** comes from **Greek mythology**:
59
60 ## Origin:
61 - **Derived from "Atlas"**: The name comes from the Greek Titan **Atlas**, who was said to hold up the sky/world on his shoulders [[1]][[10]]
62 - **Greek**: Ἀτλαντικός (*Atlantikós*) meaning "of Atlas" [[2]]
63 - **Latin**: *Atlanticus* [[1]]
64 - **First recorded use**: The earliest documented mention was around the **6th century BC** by the Greek poet Stesichorus, who called it *Atlantikôi pelágei
   * or the "Sea of Atlas" [[4]][[14]]
65
66 ## Original Meaning:
67 The term originally referred to the waters off the **west coast of Africa**, near the **Atlas Mountains** (in modern-day Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia) [[5]
   ][[8]]
68
69 ## Evolution:
70 - Middle English: *Atlantyke* [[2]]
71 - Eventually became "Atlantic Ocean" in modern English
72
73 So the Atlantic Ocean literally means the **"Sea of Atlas"** - named after the mythological figure and the mountain range in Northwest Africa [[6]][[15]]
74


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