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Graecians

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Graecians (/ˈɡrʃənz/; also Graei and Graeci; Ancient Greek: Γραῖοι, Graȋoi and Γραικοί, Graikoí), were an ancient Hellenic tribe. Their name is the origin of the Latin (and English) name of the Greeks as a whole.[1][2]

Etymology

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It is possible that their name is derived from the toponym of Graea (Γραία), a city in Boeotia identical with Tanagra according to Pausanias.[3] The word means "old" based on the adjective γραῖα "old (feminine)".[4]

History

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According to the historian Georg Busolt, the Graecians were among the first to colonize Italy (i.e., Magna Graecia) in the 9th century BC when they established the city of Cumae; they were the first Greeks with whom the Latins came into contact, which then made them adopt the name of Graeci by synecdoche as the name of the Hellenes.[2] Aristotle (4th-century BC) records that during the deluge of Deucalion, the Graecians were the inhabitants of Hellas (i.e., "the country about Dodona and the Achelous [river]") who were also known as Hellenes.[5] In the Parian Chronicle, the Hellenes were originally called Graecians and established the Panathenean Games in 1522–1521 BC.[6]

Eponymous ancestor

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Hesiod stated that the eponymous ancestor of the Graecians was Graecus (Γραικός), the son of Deucalion's daughter Pandora, who also had a brother, Latinus.[7] Other sources have Graecus as the son of Thessalus.[8]

See also

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References

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Citations

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  1. ^ Hard 2004, pp. 401–436.
  2. ^ a b Harper, Douglas (2001–2020). "Greek (n.)". Online Etymology Dictionary.
  3. ^ Pausanias. Description of Greece, 9.20.2.
  4. ^ Beekes 2009, p. 285: The adjective derives ultimately from the PIE root *ǵerh2-/*ǵreh2-, "to grow old" via Proto-Greek *gera-/grau-iu.
  5. ^ Aristotle. Meteorology, I.14.
  6. ^ Robertson 1788, p. 24.
  7. ^ Hesiod. Catalogue of Women, Fragment 5.
  8. ^ Smith 1856, pp. 1010–1011.

Sources

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