Ethnonyms of the Greeks

The ethnonyms of the Greeks are a combination of self-names ( endo-ethnonyms ) and the names of the Greek people used by other peoples ( exo - ethnonyms ) throughout its existence. The question of the origin of the ethnic names of the Greek people is among the controversial and not yet resolved ^[1] .

The self-name of the ancient and modern Greeks from the 7th century BC. e. - Hellenes ^[2] (pl. Greek Έλληνες (cf. Greek Elines , other Greek (att. And ion.) Hellenes , Dor. And Aeolian ellanes )), units Part Έλληνας Elinas , feminine Ελληνίδα Elinida ). According to legend, the Hellenes are named for the progenitor of the Greeks in Greek mythology - Hellenes. Initially, the Greeks called one of the Thessalian tribes. The Greeks call their country “ Hellas ” ( Kafarevus Ἑλλάς Hellas , dimotica Ελλάδα Hellas ). At the same time, Hellas was originally called one of the regions of Thessaly and one of the cities of this region. The Greeks call their language “Hellenic” ( ελληνικά Elinik ), and their religion “Hellenism”. In ancient times , Έλληνες was also the official name of the Corinthian Union ; at the same time, the ethnonym Panellins was used.

The ethnonym "Greeks" was used by Aristotle in the composition " Meteorology ". According to Aristotle, “Greeks” is the original name of the Hellenes: “those who were then called Greeks, but now they are called Hellenes” ( οι καλούμενοι τότε μεν Γραικοί, νυν δ 'Έλληνες ) ^[3] . This statement of Aristotle is considered unfounded ^[4] . The ethnonym "Greeks" ( dr. Greek Γραικοί , lat. Graeci ) comes from the Latin language and initially, apparently, belonged to one of the tribes of Northern Greece (in Epirus ^[5] ), the tribe "Grays" ^[4] ( Γραιοί , lat.Grai ), which is reflected in the name of the locality of ^6] (Graia, Γραία ), was received by the Romans, probably from the colonists from Gray in Kuma ^[7] . According to Thucydides, the Grays fields ( Γραϊκή ) were located near Orop on the coast against Eretria ^{[8] [4]} , according to Pausanias Gray - the old name of the city of Tanagra in Boeotia ^[9] . Georgios Hadzidakis argued that the "Grays" and "Greeks" partially moved from the city of Tanagra to southern Italy (in Kuma) ^{[10] [11]} . The name "Greeks" denoted the Hellenes Italians ^[4] . The Romans transferred the name "Greeks" to the entire Hellenic people ^[2] . Plutarch used the contemptuous name lat. Graeculus ^{[12] [13]} . According to Plutarch, Cicero "often heard behind him:" Greek! "," Scientist! "- the most common and common swear words among the Roman mob" ^[14] . The mythological ancestor of the Greeks was named ( Γραικός Grekos ; in Greek mythology - the son of Zeus and , the youngest daughter of Deucalion ).

Thanks to the Romans, the "Greeks" became the common name for the Greeks outside of Greece. Most European peoples use the ethnonym "Greeks" in relation to the Greeks in the local pronunciation of the word. At the same time, the Romance peoples and the British call the modern Greek Republic “Hellenic Republic” ( English Hellenic Republic ), but Greece as a country - Greece (Romanesque, Slavic, Celtic peoples, English and Albanians) or “Greek land” ( German Griechenland ). Byzantium , in turn, was called the Greek Empire by the Europeans.

In the east, the Greeks are called Ionians, by the name of one of the branches of the ancient Greeks ( Ίωνες ς э с )), named because of its ancestor - Ion ( Ίων ). Thus, in ancient Armenian , for example, the name of Greece is Yoynkʿ (Յոյնք), in modern Armenian - Hunastan (Յունաստան, Հունաստան), in Hebrew - Yavan (יון), in Arabic - al-Yūnān (اليونان) / Yunanıstan, in Georgian - Saberʒneti (საბერძნეთი), according to one version, this name is related to the word "brʒne" (ბრძნე) - wisdom. Adygs call the Greeks "Urym", which comes from the Turkish-Turkish term Rum (see below), which indicates Anatolia and Pont as sources of borrowing.

In ancient times, the Greeks also called themselves Achaeans ( Ἀχαιοί akhayy , unit part Ἀχαιος akhayos ), named after one of the branches of the Hellenes , named because of the ancestor of the Achaeans in Greek mythology - Achaea , Danians ( Δαναοί , unit part Δανας coincides with the name of one of the peoples of the sea, the Argivians (more correctly, the Argeans, Argivians, from their Latin name - Argivi, unit part Argivus) ( Αργείοι argei , unit part Αργείος argejos ), from the name of the city of Argos , by which they were named in antiquities of Argolis , all of the Peloponnese and even all of Greece.

In the 1st century BC e. - I century AD e. Greeks of Hellas, Peloponnese, Aegean, Epirus , Macedonia , Thrace , Crete , Cyprus , Italy , Tauris , Asia Minor , Pontus , Cappadocia , Syria and Egypt received the status of citizens of the Roman state and began to be called "Romans" ( Ρωμαίοι romayeloy ) or ", Literally" Romans ", as the Greeks called the Romans, the singular - ρωμαίος romayos - Roman, the Greek language began to be called Romaika ( Ρωμαίικα ) (literally" Roman ", previously so called in Latin by the Greek language), the lands inhabited by the Greeks became called Romaida (boo Valenod "Roman earth"), the Greek Union began Politi of the Romans (Πολιτεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, literally "Roman Republic"), title of the head of the union began to sound like "autocrat of the Romans» (αὐτοκράτωρ τῶν Ρωμαίων, literally "Emperor of the Romans", as the Greeks called Roman emperors), demarchs became Roman demarchs (before the Greeks called the plebeian tribunes of the Roman Republic), the symbol of the Union was the symbol of the Roman Republic - aquila (later the two-headed eagle), the Roman Julian calendar became its official calendar, many the Greeks began to take Roman names for themselves (like the Romans - Greek), a certain number of Latin words entered the Greek language (as many Greek words entered into Latin ).

After the Christianization of the Roman Empire, the Greeks also began to be called “Christians” ( Χριστιανοί Christian, singular - Χριστιανός Christianos ) (this name later came to Russia , transformed into the word “peasants”, it became the name of the agricultural estate), the symbol of Byzantium St. George Moreover, after the formation in Greece of the state of the crusaders of the Greeks, who converted to Catholicism , like the crusaders themselves, they were called Franks. The Greeks were called Greeks-pagans until the complete disappearance of Greek paganism, the Greeks also called the medieval Greeks in the historical works of Laonika Halkokondila .

After the conquest of the Byzantine empire of Epirus despotate and the Trebizond empire by the Ottoman Empire, the Sultan of the Turks took the title “Kayser-i-Rûm” (“Roman Caesar”). The totality of all the laity of the Orthodox Church began to be called "Millet-i Rûm" (which translates as "Roman people"). The stained Crimean Greeks are still called the Urumahs, the Kurds call Greece "Hurumistan", in the East the Eastern Roman Empire was called "Rum", in contrast to the Western, which was called "Ifraja" ("country of the Franks"). Some cultural influence of the Turks on the Greeks was also shown - the Greek language at that moment was “dimotica” (“folk language”), which included some Turkisms. Surnames of some Asia Minor Greeks acquired the “-oglu” formant (in the Turkic languages ​​“son”).