Graikoi

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An ancient ethnonym referring to one of the early Greek tribes known in classical times ; a term historically used to denote people from Greece or Greek-speaking regions ; a designation found in early texts indicating members of a Greek cultural or ethnic group
2. A name used historically to identify a group of ancient Greeks associated with early Hellenic tribes ; a label applied to individuals from Greek lands in antiquity ; a classical reference to persons belonging to the Greek ethnicity or civilization
3. An early term for Greek people originating from specific tribal groups in ancient times ; a word used to describe inhabitants of Greek territories during early historical periods ; an ethnographic term for citizens or members of the ancient Greek cultural community

Etymology: Aristotle, writing in the fourth century BC, recorded that the people who called themselves Hellenes had once been known by another name, "Graikoi." He traced it to a small group living around Dodona, in the mountains of Epirus in north-western Greece, and said that their neighbours came to use the name for all of them. The name then travelled west. Romans borrowed it as "Graeci," which is the source of English "Greek" and of "Greece" from Latin "Graecia." Greeks themselves kept calling their people Hellenes, so the English name reflects an older tribal label that outlasted the Greek usage it came from.

Synonyms: Greeks