Ttyjukl

In this alternate history/reality fantasy series, set in a Frontier North America with magic, there are 3 main magical theory systems mentioned - Aphrikan, Avrupan and Hijero-Cathayan.

Aphrican magic is clearly (both etymologically and in-verse) 'African' magic. And Cathay is equally easily identified with China. Avrupa is the in-universe name for Europe. But what is the Hijero referring to and where does the alternate name of Avrupa for 'Europe' come from?

_{Note: I've read some speculation that Hijero might be Indian, but even leaving real world comparison to tradition systems and the fact that I can't find any similar alternate name for any region of India, Indian magic is referred to as a separate entity by the Hijero-Cathayan adept in Book 3. So that doesn't seem to be it. As for Avrupa, the closest real-life etymology I've been able to find is that it's a Sanskrit word meaning deformed/misshapen. Which might be acceptable as a name for a tradition of magic, but doesn't really make sense as the self-identified name by the people of a continent.}

• Avrupa literally means 'Europe' in Turkish (source)




• Hijero seems to be a contortion of 'hiero' (as in hiero-glyphics), possibly from the Serbo-Croat but more likely also from the Turkish ("hijeroglifski")

In the 'Frontier Magic' universe, it seems likely that 'Europe' is called Avrupa due to a much stronger influence over European affairs by the erstwhile Turkish Empire whereas the fact that Hijero (Egypt) and Cathay (China) are conflated might suggest a Egyptian/Chinese Empire.

As is discussed in the other answer, Avrupa is derived from Europe. The Latin spelling of Europe was Evropa, which is not far from Avrupa.

Hijero-Cathayan may imply Japanese-Chinese. A hijiri is a Japanese holy man. From the encyclopedia of religion:

HIJIRI are Japanese lay ascetics and influential antagonists of priests and monks. The role of the hijiri in Japanese folk religion is far more important than that of the ministers of the official religions (priests and monks in Shintō and Buddhism, respectively). The hijiri is in many ways the spokesman of the common man.

And from the Edopedia:

Hijiri: in Japanese religion, a man of great personal magnetism and spiritual power, as distinct from a leader of an institutionalized religion.
Historically, hijiri has been used to refer to sages of various traditions, such as the shaman, Shintō mountain ascetic, Taoist magician, or Buddhist reciter.
Most characteristically hijiri describes the wandering priest who operates outside the orthodox Buddhist tradition to meet the religious needs of the common people.

So hijiri are already, in the real world, connected with magicians. One can imagine uniting traditional Chinese magic with the magic practiced by Japanese wandering holy magicians to obtain a unified theory of Japanese-Chinese magic.