Ἐλλάς

Frisk Etymological English

άδος
Grammatical information: f.
Meaning: Ἐλλάς, -άδοςHellas, land of the Ε῝λληνες, name of a territory in southern Thessaly (Il.), also Anatolian Ionia (Hdt.); - also adj. f. hellenic (γλῶσσα, πόλις; Hdt., A.).
Other forms: Further Ε῝λληνες, Dor. -ανες pl. Hellenes, name of a Thessalian tribe (Β 684), name of all Greeks (since Hdt.), Heathen (LXX), sg. also adj. hellenic (Pi., A.). As 1. member in Ἐλλανο-δίκαι pl. " judges of the Hellenes", name of the arbiters at the Olympic Games (Pi.), also name of a martial court in Sparta (X.); Ἐλληνο-ταμίαι pl. name of the treasurers of the Delic-Attic Confederacy (Att.). As 2. member in Πανέλληνες Panhellenes (Β 530 beside Ἀχαιοί, Hes. Op. 528, Archil. 52,); cf. below; φιλ-έλλην friend of the Hellenes (Ion.-Att.), μισ-έλλην enemy of the Hellenes (X.).
Compounds: As 1. member in Ἐλλαδ-άρχης (with ἑλλαδαρχέω) Leader of the H., President of the Achaeic Confederacy, the Delphic Amphiktyonie and other communities (imper. times).
Derivatives: Ἐλλαδικός belonging to H. (Xenoph., Str.). - Ἐλλήνιος, -άνιος hellenic (Hdt., Pi.), f. -ηνίς, -ανίς (Pi., Att.), Ἐλληνικός id. (Hdt.; s. Chantr. Ét. sur le vocab. grec, s. index); denomin. verb ἑλληνίζω speak Greek, also trans. hellenise (late), with ἑλληνισμός Greek way of expression, also opposed to ἀττικισμός Attic expression (hell.), ἑλληνιστής who speaks Greek, name of a Jew speaking Greek (Act. Ap. 6, 1; oppos. Ἐβραῖος) etc.; -ιστί adv. in Greek (Pl., X.).
Origin: PG [a word of Pre-Greek origin]
Etymology: Like most names of lands and peoples Ἐλλάς and Ε῝λληνες have no etymology. - As formation in -άς (cf. Τρωάς, Φθιάς, Λευκάς etc.; Schwyzer 507f., Chantr. Form. 356) Ἐλλάς supposes a noun (Sommer Münch. Stud. z. Sprachwiss. 4, 1ff.). Also for Ε῝λληνες a noun will have been the basis; the deviant intonation (cf. Ἀθαμᾶνες, Ἀκαρνᾶνες, Δυμᾶνες etc., which is also found in Ἴωνες (s. v.), is mostly explained from Παν-έλληνες (like πάν-δεινος, παν-άγαθος a. o.; but Παν-αχαιοί Β 404 etc.!). The ending -αν- is of course Pre-Greek. - Beside Ε῝λληνες we find Ἔλλοπες (like Δρύοπες a. o.) in Ἐλλοπία name of the region of Dodona (Hes. Fr. 134, 1) and of northern Euboea (Hdt. 8, 23; note the suffix -οπ-); since Arist. (Mete. 352a 34) the area of Dodona and the basin of the Acheloos was seen as the land of origin of the Hellenes, the ἀρχαία Ἐλλάς. The basis of Ἐλλάς and Ε῝λληνες prob. is Ἐλλοί (Pi. Fr. 59), after H. = Ε῝λληνες οἱ ἐν Δωδώνῃ, καὶ οἱ ἱερεῖς; but perh. it is juist the consequence of the reading σ' Ἐλλοί for Σελλοί in Π 234, s. Leumann Hom. Wörter 40. It is obvious, to connect the Ε῝λληνες also with the Σελλοι, who live also around Dodona; Ε῝λληνες and Ἐλλάς would have lost the σ- through Greek development. - Further unknown, s. Wilamowitz on Eur. Her. 1 n. 1, Güntert WuS 9, 132 (cf. Kretschmer Glotta 17, 250), Chatzis (PhilWoch 58, 497), further Chantraine Form. 168 n. 1. Details in Schwyzer 77f.