Reinvigorating Hellas
Etymology from the Dictionary of Hellenic Language by professor G. Babiniotis:
The Hellenes were first called "Γραικοί" ("Graeki" with the letter "G" pronounced "Y" as in "Yard") by the Illirians (present day Italians), when the former arrived in Italy from ancient Dodoni (a city in Epirus, Hellas) as colonists. According to another source, these colonists named Γραίοι or Γραίκοι ("Graii" or "Graeci"), came to Italy from Γραία ("Graia"), an ancient town in Viotia, Hellas (maybe near contemporary Tanagra) and founded a new Hellenic colony there with the name Nea Polis (which means New City, later to become known as Napoli, or Naples in English). This was the very first time that the Latins came into close contact with the Hellenes, and thus named them all "Graeci" after the citizens of Graia.
Given that most modern European toponyms originate from Latin, the word "Graecus" became the root for all other respective names for Έλληνας and Ελλάς (Ελλάδα) ("Hellene" and "Hellas" or "Hellada"), e.g. Greek-Greece, Grec-Grèce, Grieche-Griechenland.
Later on, during the first Christian centuries, the word " Έλληνες" (Hellenes) became a synonym to "heathen", in order to distinguish the followers of the old polytheistic faith from those of the new -official- religion, and along with Ρωμιοί ("Romii", originating from "Romans") and Ελλαδικοί (=of Hellas), the name Γραικοί (Graeki) stayed in use until the foundation of the new Hellenic state in 1832 A.C.
From that time on, the ancient terms Hellas and Hellenes were used primarily in the interior of this peninsula in South-East Europe to identify the country and its inhabitants, while the ones originating from Graeci remain in the vocabularies of the European languages.
posted by P @ 11:04 μ.μ.
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