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 (

).

Hellenes

The civilization and its associated territory and people, which is referred to in English as "

Ionians

Of those, the Ionians largely lived in

world, so their ethnonym became commonly used for all of the Hellenes, to civilizations to east of Greece.

The name Yūnān (

Today, words derived from Yūnān can be found in Persian, Turkish, Azerbaijani, Uzbek, Kurdish, 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).

Similarly, ancient

.

Greeks

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.

From that statement, it is asserted that the name of Graeci was once widely used in

According to

his name to the Greeks, or Hellenes.

In his Ethnica, Stephanus of Byzantium also states that Graecus, the son of Thessalus, was the origin of the name Graeci for the Hellenes.^[8][9]

Romans

The eastern part of the

: Ρωμιός (from Ῥωμαῖος), Ρωμιοσύνη.

There was tension with

Rûm

, to refer to its land or people.

List of names in other languages

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Hellas-derived names

The third major form, "Hellas" and its derivatives, is used by a few languages around the world, including Greek itself. In several European languages in which the normal term is derived from Graecia, names derived from Hellas exist as rare or poetic alternatives.

Ionia-derived names

The second major form, used in many languages and in which the common root is yun or ywn, is borrowed from the Greek name Ionia, the Ionian tribe region of Asia Minor, derived from Old Persian and meant for people with youthful appearances.^[11] In Greek, these forms have never normally been used to denote the whole Greek nation or Greece.

In

.

Graecia-derived names

The first major form of names derives from the Latin Graecus and Graecia or their equivalent forms in Greek whence the former derive themselves. These terms have fallen out of use in Greek.

Georgian name

The Georgian name for Greece is coined from the Georgian word "wise" brdzeni (Georgian: ბრძენი), thus saberdzneti would literally mean "land of the wise men", possibly referring to the Ancient Greek philosophy.^[13]

• Georgian: საბერძნეთი (Saberdzneti)
• Mingrelian: საბერძემო (Saberdzemo)

Official name of the modern Greek state

From its establishment after the outbreak of the

has used a variety of official names, most often designating changes of regime. Internally, the country was called Hellas, not Greece, even in the cases below where the name was translated internationally as Greece.

• 1821–1828: "Provisional Administration of Greece" (Προσωρινή Διοίκησις τῆς Ἑλλάδος), used by the provisional government before the international recognition of Greek autonomy (and later independence) in the London Protocol.
• 1828–1832: "Hellenic State" (Ἑλληνική Πολιτεία), used under the governorship of Ioannis Kapodistrias. Along with the previous period, it is sometimes grouped together in the historiographic term "First Hellenic Republic".
• 1832–1924: "Kingdom of Greece" (Βασίλειον τῆς Ἑλλάδος), adopted after Greece was declared a monarchy in the London Conference of 1832, and retained until 15 May 1924,^[14] ten days before the abolition of the monarchy on 25 March 1924.
• 15 March to 28 May 1924: "Hellenic State" (Ἑλληνική Πολιτεία), initial but short-lived styling of the Second Hellenic Republic.
• 1924–1935: "Hellenic Republic" (Ἑλληνική Δημοκρατία), known historiographically as the Second Hellenic Republic, from 24 May 1924 (effective May 28)^[15] until the 10 October 1935 coup by Georgios Kondylis and the restoration of the monarchy. This change between "State" and "Republic" remains the sole case the name was rectified and did not reflect a regime change.
• 1935–1973: "
  Greek government in exile
  .
  • 1941–1944: "
    Axis Powers in World War II
    .
• 1973–today: "Hellenic Republic" (Ελληνική Δημοκρατία), from the abolition of the monarchy by the military junta to the present day. However, the present Third Hellenic Republic is held to have begun in 1974, following the fall of the junta and the return of democratic rule.

References

Bibliography

Primary sources

• Aristotle, Meteorology, online in the University of Adelaida Library
• Hesiod, Catalogue of Women, online in the Online Medieval & Classical Library
• Meineke, Augustus (ed.). Ethnica
  (in Greek) (1849 ed.). Reimer.

Secondary sources

• Smith, William (1854). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. Vol. 1. Little, Brown and Co.
• Smith, William (1849). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Vol. 2. J. Walton.