Hellenified

Part of speech: verb, adjective

Definitions

1. Having been made to adopt Greek language, customs, or ways of thinking, so that something becomes culturally Greek in character
2. Transformed into something that reflects Greek culture, manners, or artistic ideals after being influenced by them
3. Brought under Greek cultural influence and taking on the language, customs, or outlook associated with ancient or modern Greece

Etymology: "Hellenified" is built from "Hellen," the name the ancient Greeks used for themselves, which in myth was the eponymous ancestor of all Greeks, and the suffix "-ify," from Latin "-ficare," meaning "to make." Put together, the word means "to make Greek" and describes the process of a people or place absorbing Greek language, customs, and ideas. The English verb is formed in the 19th century, following the pattern of older words like "Latinize" and "Christianize," which were coined on the same model. The form "Hellenic" comes from Greek "Hellēnikos," meaning "Greek," and it appears in English as the name for the Greek people and culture. "Hellenize" and its relatives were used mainly by historians writing about the spread of Greek culture after Alexander the Great's conquests in the late fourth century BCE, when Greek became the common language across a vast region from Egypt to Central Asia. Scholars of that period still use "Hellenistic" for the era and its culture, a term that is older in scholarly usage than the verb "Hellenified."

Synonyms: Hellenized, Hellenised