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Name of Greece
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Name of Greece
The name of Greece differs in Greek compared with the names used for the country in other languages and cultures, just like the names of the Greeks. The ancient and modern name of the country is Hellas or Hellada (Greek: Ελλάς, Ελλάδα; in polytonic: Ἑλλάς, Ἑλλάδα), and its official name is the Hellenic Republic, Helliniki Dimokratia (Ελληνική Δημοκρατία [eliniˈci ðimokraˈti.a]). In English, however, the country is usually called Greece, which comes from the Latin Graecia (as used by the Romans).
The civilization and its associated territory and people, which is referred to in English as "Greece", have never referred to themselves in that term. They have rather called themselves 'Hellenes', adopting the traditional appellation of the Hellas region. This name has its origins in the mythological figure of Hellen, the son of Deucalion and Pyrrha, in an origin myth which has parallels to parts of the Book of Genesis. Hellen's father survived a great flood which Zeus caused to happen in order to wipe out humanity. Hellen himself became the founding father to all Greek tribes, begetting one from each of his sons: Aeolus the Aeolians, Dorus the Dorians, and Xuthus the Achaeans and Ionians through his son Ion.
Of those, the Ionians largely lived in Anatolia, aka Asia Minor, ergo the most in contact with the Asian world, so their ethnonym became commonly used for all of the Hellenes, to civilizations to east of Greece.
The name Yūnān (Persian: یونان) came through Old Persian during the Achaemenid Empire (550-333 BC). It was derived from the Old Persian Yauna for the Ionian Greeks (Ancient Greek: Ἰάονες, iāones), on the western coast of Asia Minor, who were the first Greeks to come into contact with the Persians. The term would eventually be applied to all the Greeks. Today, words derived from Yūnān can be found in Persian, Pashto, Turkish, Azerbaijani, Uzbek, Kurdish, Malay, Indonesian, Armenian (as Yūnānistan "land of Yūnān"; -istan "land" in Persian), Arabic, Hebrew (Biblical and Modern) (Yavan יָוָן), Aramaic (identical to Hebrew, but in Syriac abjad ܝܘܢ Yaw'n) and Kiswahili (as WaYunani, likely from Arabic, or perhaps Persian, as both languages have contributed vocabulary to the Swahili language).
Similarly, ancient China referred to the Hellenistic Greco-Bactrian Kingdom in Central Asia as Daxia (Tokhara, or Bactria), and the various city-state confederations around the Ferghana Valley as Dayuan, meaning "Great Ionians". Chinese contact was made first by Han Dynasty diplomat Zhang Qian in 139 BC during his mission to seek an anti-Xiongnu alliance with Greater Yuezhi. Zhang's report of the famous Ferghana horse led to Emperor Wu of Han sending further emissaries seeking trade, though frictions between the envoy and the rulers at Alexandria Eschate led to the War of the Heavenly Horses between the Chinese and the Ferghana confederations, and the eventual Chinese victory led to the establishment of the Protectorate of the Western Regions. The Hellenistic dominance was pushed out of Central Asia and remained further south as the Indo-Greek Kingdom, until eventually replaced by the expansion of Indo-Scythians and the Kushans.
The English name Greece and the similar adaptations in other languages derive from the Latin name Graecia (Greek: Γραικία), literally meaning 'the land of the Greeks', which was used by Ancient Romans to denote the area of modern-day Greece. Similarly, the Latin name of the nation was Graeci, which is the origin of the English name Greeks. Those names, in turn, trace their origin from Graecus, the Latin adaptation of the Greek name Γραικός (pl. Γραικοί), which means 'Greek'.
The Romans most likely called the country Graecia and its people Graeci after encountering the ancient tribe Graecians from the area of Boeotia, but the Greeks called their land Hellas and themselves Hellenes. Several other speculations have been made. William Smith notes in his Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography that foreigners frequently refer to people by a different name (an exonym) from their native one (an endonym). Aristotle had the first surviving written use of the name Graeci (Γραικοί), in his Meteorology. He wrote that the area around Dodona and the Achelous River was inhabited by the Selli and a people, who had been called Graeci but were called Hellenes by his time. From that statement, it is asserted that the name of Graeci was once widely used in Epirus and the rest of the western coast of Greece. It thus became the name by which the Hellenes were known to the Italic peoples, who were on the opposite side of the Ionian Sea.
According to Hesiod, in his Catalogue of Women, Graecus was the son of Pandora and Zeus and gave his name to the people who followed the Hellenic customs. His brother Latinus gave his name to the Latins. Similarly, the eponymous Hellen is supposed to have given his name to the Greeks, or Hellenes.
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Name of Greece
The name of Greece differs in Greek compared with the names used for the country in other languages and cultures, just like the names of the Greeks. The ancient and modern name of the country is Hellas or Hellada (Greek: Ελλάς, Ελλάδα; in polytonic: Ἑλλάς, Ἑλλάδα), and its official name is the Hellenic Republic, Helliniki Dimokratia (Ελληνική Δημοκρατία [eliniˈci ðimokraˈti.a]). In English, however, the country is usually called Greece, which comes from the Latin Graecia (as used by the Romans).
The civilization and its associated territory and people, which is referred to in English as "Greece", have never referred to themselves in that term. They have rather called themselves 'Hellenes', adopting the traditional appellation of the Hellas region. This name has its origins in the mythological figure of Hellen, the son of Deucalion and Pyrrha, in an origin myth which has parallels to parts of the Book of Genesis. Hellen's father survived a great flood which Zeus caused to happen in order to wipe out humanity. Hellen himself became the founding father to all Greek tribes, begetting one from each of his sons: Aeolus the Aeolians, Dorus the Dorians, and Xuthus the Achaeans and Ionians through his son Ion.
Of those, the Ionians largely lived in Anatolia, aka Asia Minor, ergo the most in contact with the Asian world, so their ethnonym became commonly used for all of the Hellenes, to civilizations to east of Greece.
The name Yūnān (Persian: یونان) came through Old Persian during the Achaemenid Empire (550-333 BC). It was derived from the Old Persian Yauna for the Ionian Greeks (Ancient Greek: Ἰάονες, iāones), on the western coast of Asia Minor, who were the first Greeks to come into contact with the Persians. The term would eventually be applied to all the Greeks. Today, words derived from Yūnān can be found in Persian, Pashto, Turkish, Azerbaijani, Uzbek, Kurdish, Malay, Indonesian, Armenian (as Yūnānistan "land of Yūnān"; -istan "land" in Persian), Arabic, Hebrew (Biblical and Modern) (Yavan יָוָן), Aramaic (identical to Hebrew, but in Syriac abjad ܝܘܢ Yaw'n) and Kiswahili (as WaYunani, likely from Arabic, or perhaps Persian, as both languages have contributed vocabulary to the Swahili language).
Similarly, ancient China referred to the Hellenistic Greco-Bactrian Kingdom in Central Asia as Daxia (Tokhara, or Bactria), and the various city-state confederations around the Ferghana Valley as Dayuan, meaning "Great Ionians". Chinese contact was made first by Han Dynasty diplomat Zhang Qian in 139 BC during his mission to seek an anti-Xiongnu alliance with Greater Yuezhi. Zhang's report of the famous Ferghana horse led to Emperor Wu of Han sending further emissaries seeking trade, though frictions between the envoy and the rulers at Alexandria Eschate led to the War of the Heavenly Horses between the Chinese and the Ferghana confederations, and the eventual Chinese victory led to the establishment of the Protectorate of the Western Regions. The Hellenistic dominance was pushed out of Central Asia and remained further south as the Indo-Greek Kingdom, until eventually replaced by the expansion of Indo-Scythians and the Kushans.
The English name Greece and the similar adaptations in other languages derive from the Latin name Graecia (Greek: Γραικία), literally meaning 'the land of the Greeks', which was used by Ancient Romans to denote the area of modern-day Greece. Similarly, the Latin name of the nation was Graeci, which is the origin of the English name Greeks. Those names, in turn, trace their origin from Graecus, the Latin adaptation of the Greek name Γραικός (pl. Γραικοί), which means 'Greek'.
The Romans most likely called the country Graecia and its people Graeci after encountering the ancient tribe Graecians from the area of Boeotia, but the Greeks called their land Hellas and themselves Hellenes. Several other speculations have been made. William Smith notes in his Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography that foreigners frequently refer to people by a different name (an exonym) from their native one (an endonym). Aristotle had the first surviving written use of the name Graeci (Γραικοί), in his Meteorology. He wrote that the area around Dodona and the Achelous River was inhabited by the Selli and a people, who had been called Graeci but were called Hellenes by his time. From that statement, it is asserted that the name of Graeci was once widely used in Epirus and the rest of the western coast of Greece. It thus became the name by which the Hellenes were known to the Italic peoples, who were on the opposite side of the Ionian Sea.
According to Hesiod, in his Catalogue of Women, Graecus was the son of Pandora and Zeus and gave his name to the people who followed the Hellenic customs. His brother Latinus gave his name to the Latins. Similarly, the eponymous Hellen is supposed to have given his name to the Greeks, or Hellenes.