Λέλεγες

Wikipedia EN

The Leleges (/ˈlɛlɪdʒiːz/; Greek: Λέλεγες) were an aboriginal people of the Aegean region, before the Greeks arrived. They were distinct from another pre-Hellenic people of the region, the Pelasgians. The exact areas to which they were native are uncertain, since they were apparently pre-literate and the only references to them are in ancient Greek sources. These references are casual and (it is alleged) sometimes fictitious. Likewise, little is known about the language of the Leleges.

Many Greek authors link the Leleges to the Carians of south-west Anatolia. Homer names the Leleges among the Trojan allies alongside the Carians, Pelasgians, Paeonians and Gaucones.

It is thought that the name Leleges is an exonym, in a long-extinct language, rather than an endonym (or autonym). That is, during the Bronze Age the word lulahi apparently meaning "strangers" was used in the Luwian language and in other Anatolian languages. For example, in a Hittite cuneiform inscription, priests and temple servants are directed to avoid conversing with lulahi and foreign merchants. According to the suggestion of Vitaly Shevoroshkin, an attempt to transliterate lulahi into Greek might result in leleges.

Late traditions reported in Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheke, and by Pausanias, derive the name from an eponymous king Lelex; a comparable etymology, memorializing a legendary founder, is provided by Greek mythographers for virtually every tribe of Hellenes: "Lelex and the Leleges, whatever their historical significance, have acted as a blank sheet on which to draw Lakonia and all it means," observes Ken Dowden.

English (Autenrieth)

a piratical tribe on the south and west coast of Asia Minor, Il. 10.429, Il. 21.86.

Greek Monolingual

οι (Α Λέλεγες)> ληστρικός και περιπλανώμενος λαός, υπόλειμμα προελληνικών πληθυσμών της Ελλάδας και της Μικράς Ασίας.
[ΕΤΥΜΟΛΟΓΙΑ Αβέβαιης ετυμολ. Ο τ. Λέ-λεγες προήλθε με διπλασιασμό (πρβλ. Βάρβαροι). Η λ. συνδέεται πιθ. με τα λαλαγῶ, λαλῶ «φλυαρώ», οπότε θα είχε τη σημ. «οι φλύαροι», ιδιότητα που τους αποδόθηκε πιθ. επειδή η γλώσσα τους ως ξένη δεν ήταν κατανοητή. Κατ' άλλους, η λ. Λέ-λεγ-ες συνδέεται με το πρωτοχατταϊκό πρόθημα λε-. Τέλος, κατ' άλλη άποψη, η λ. συνδέεται με τους τ. ἔλεγος, ἐλελεῦ.

Russian (Dvoretsky)

Λέλεγες: οἱ (эп. dat. pl. Λελέγεσσι) лелеги (племя, населявшее, до исторических греков, южную Троаду, а тж. побережья Эллады и М. Азии) Hom. etc.

Frisk Etymological English

ων
Grammatical information: m. pl.
Meaning: old people on the coasts of Greece and Asia Minor and on the islands (Il.).
Origin: PG [a word of Pre-Greek origin]
Etymology: Reduplicated formation (like Βάρβαροι); because of the foreign language perhaps called "the babbler, chatterer", to λαλα-γέω, λαλέω (cf. Schwyzer 59 n. 2). Referring to the sing. Λέξ (given by grammarians (Arkad., Theognost.) Brandenstein P. -W. Suppl. 6, 169 f. suggets that Λέ-λεγ-ες is protohattic (= Hattic)and has a pluralprefix λε-; thus Kretschmer Glotta 28, 249 and 32, 162ff. with further quite hypothetic combinations after Trubetzkoy Mél. van Ginneken 171 ff. - Theander Eranos 15, 151 ff. tries to connect ἔλεγος, ἐλελευ.̃

Frisk Etymology German

Λέλεγες: -ων
{Léleges}
Grammar: m. pl.
Meaning: alter Volksstamm an den Küsten Griechenlands und Kleinasiens wie auf den Inseln (seit Il.).
Etymology : Reduplizierte Bildung wie Βάρβαροι; wegen der fremden Sprache vielleicht als "die Plapperer, Plauderer" benannt, zu λαλαγέω, λαλέω (vgl. Schwyzer 59 A. 2). Unter Verweis auf den bei späten Grammatikern (Arkad., Theognost. u. a.) überlieferten Sing. Λέξ will Brandenstein P. -W. Suppl. 6, 169 f. u. a. in Λέλεγες ein protohattisches Pluralpräfix λε- finden; zustimmend Kretschmer Glotta 28, 249 und 32, 162ff. (wo ausführliche Behandlung) mit weiteren ganz hypothetischen Kombinationen nach Trubetzkoy Mél. van Ginneken 171 ff. —Theander Eranos 15, 151 ff. sucht Anschluß an ἔλεγος, ἐλελεῦ usw.
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