Antarctic Plateau, Antarctica

The name Antarctica is the romanized version of the Greek compound word ἀνταρκτική (antarktiké), feminine of ἀνταρκτικός (antarktikos), meaning "opposite to the Arctic", "opposite to the north".
Before getting its present geographical connotations, the term was used for other locations which could be defined as "opposite to the north". For example, the short-lived French colony established at Brazil in the 16th Century was called "France Antarctique".
The first formal use of the name "Antarctica" as a continental name in the 1890s is attributed to the Scottish cartographer John George Bartholomew.