How did the word Asia come to mean all the lands and societies east of Europe?

by ASunDr

I was looking at a map of Imperial Rome http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:RomanEmpire_117.svg (Wikipedia, I know)

And it shows that Asia was just the western province in modern-day Turkey. How did Asia come to mean the entire east of Europe?

Searocksandtrees

"Asia" is from a Greek word, refering to the land to the east:

speculated to be from Akkadian asu "to go out, to rise," in reference to the sun, thus "the land of the sunrise."

source

Here are some previous posts discussing the naming of continents

When and from who did each of the 7 continents get the name they have today? Have there ever been disagreements about the borders of the continents?

When were the continents first given names, what were those names and who gave them those names?

For how long have we had the concept of "Continents"? When did Europeans started calling themselves "European"? How were the borders of what we know as "Asia" and "Europe" set up?

Why are Europe and Asia considered separate continents, and was there ever a time when they weren't?