Etymology

A speculative representation of Antarctica labelled as 'Terra Australis Incognita' on Jan Janssonius's Zeekaart

van het Zuidpoolgebied (1657), Het Scheepvaartmuseum

The name given to the continent originates from the word antarctic, which comes from Middle
French antartique or antarctique ('opposite to the Arctic') and, in turn, the Latin antarcticus ('opposite
to the north'). Antarcticus is derived from the Greek ἀντι- ('anti-') and ἀρκτικός ('of the Bear',
'northern').[4] The Greek philosopher Aristotle wrote in Meteorology about an "Antarctic region" in c. 
350 BCE.[5] The Greek geographer Marinus of Tyre reportedly used the name in his world map from
the second century CE, now lost. The Roman authors Gaius Julius Hyginus and Apuleius used for
the South Pole the romanised Greek name polus antarcticus,[6] from which derived the Old
French pole antartike (modern pôle antarctique) attested in 1270, and from there the Middle
English pol antartik, found first in a treatise written by the English author Geoffrey Chaucer.[4]
Until the discovery, belief by Europeans in the existence of a Terra Australis—a vast continent in the
far south of the globe to balance the northern lands of Europe, Asia, and North Africa—had existed
as an intellectual concept since classical antiquity. The belief of such a land lasted until
the discovery of Australia.[7]
During the early 19th century, explorer Matthew Flinders doubted the existence of a detached
continent south of Australia (then called New Holland) and thus advocated for the "Terra Australis"
name to be used for Australia instead.[8][9] In 1824, the colonial authorities in Sydney officially
renamed the continent of New Holland to Australia, leaving the term "Terra Australis" unavailable as
a reference to Antarctica. Over the following decades, geographers used phrases such as "the
Antarctic Continent". They searched for a more poetic replacement, suggesting names such
as Ultima and Antipodea.[10] Antarctica was adopted in the 1890s, with the first use of the name being
attributed to the Scottish cartographer John George Bartholomew.[11]