In the 1990s, a valid scientific study showed that an overwhelming percentage of today's Greeks have the same DNA as the original inhabitants of prehistoric Greece and the ancient Greeks.
According to Greek mythology, Hellin, the son of Deucalion and Pyrra, had three sons, Aeolus, Doros and Xanthos.
Aeolus and Doros, together with the sons of Xanthos, Achaeus and Ionas, were the ancestors of the four main Greek tribes, namely the Achaeans, the Dorians, the Aeolians and the Ionians. The name Greeks corresponded in the Homeric years only to a Greek people who lived in the region around the river Sperchios in what is now Fthiotida and were led by the mythical Achilles.
The etymology of the word Greek is still disputed today. The prevailing opinion is that it comes from Sellos (word "Sell" = enlight in greek), the Greek people of Epirus, who were the priests of Dodoni, and a part of whom migrated to Fthia. Other views refer the name Hellene to the subject "ell-", meaning mountainous, or to the word "ellops", meaning speechless.
As early as the 7th century B.C. the name Panhellenes had become established, and from there the name Hellenes was superseded and generalized. Later, with the spread of Christianity, the term Hellene meant pagan or non-Christian, while the inhabitants of Greece were called Helladetes.
When Christianity ceased to be threatened by the pagan religions, the term Greek began to be used tentatively to refer to its origin, and after the declaration of independence of the Greek state, the name returned as the official name. The official name of Greece in the European Union is Hellas.
Babiniotis' dictionary also mentions "Ellopes", which identified the inhabitants of Dodoni and North Evia. Aristotle defines Dodoni as the original homeland of the Greeks. From the morphological point of view, it is considered that the words Hellin and Hellas are derivatives of the noun Helloi - Selloi, as these types are found in Homer and Pindar. The Christian Isichios interprets as follows: "Helloi: Hellenes in Dodoni and the priests". According to Mr. Babiniotis, all these linguistic types are of unknown origin and meaning.
As already stated, the word in Homer is locally confined to Thessaly of Fthia, while its use later in ancient word "Hellanodikes" increased its importance because of the importance of Olympic Games. Thucydides explains the geographical extension of the term Hellenes by the mythological hero Hellene who often traveled and acted in other cities. The ancient historian Herodotus believes that the term "Hellenes" was used to emphasize the common origin of the various tribes of Greece.
Graikos(Grecos, Greek)
The name Graikos is older than the name Hellene. An inscription from the 4th century BC reports that Hellenes were called those who once were called Graikos, while Aristotle notes in his "Meteorological" that "in the region of Dodoni in Epirus lived the Sellos, who were then called Graikoi and are now called Hellenes".
Some argue that the Italian tribes encountered the Graikos because of their contact with Epirus and called all Hellenes so, while others that the Graikos may have migrated to Boeotia, from where they moved and founded a colony in southern Italy in the 8th century BC (the other version is that the inhabitants of the city of Graia in Boeotia founded the colony of Kimi in Italy and were called Graikos from the name of the city).
There the natives of Italy generalized the name Graeci (Latin: Graeci) for all Greeks and it later spread in all languages of Western Europe, where the names Greeks and Greece are respectively: in English - Greeks and Greece, in French - Grecs and Grèce, in German - Griechen and Griechenland, in Italian - Greci and Grecia, in Spanish Griegos and Grecia.
In the course of time, the word Graikos began to mean the casual laborer and the adventurer, while in Middle Ages it took on the meaning of Greek Orthodox. An ardent advocate of this name was Adamantios Korais, for, as he pointed out, "that is what the enlightened nations of Europe have called us".
Romios(Rûms)
- While the Roman Empire was being Christianized, the Hellenes, since the name Hellene now meant the pagan, called themselves Rûms or Romans, a name that had political implications since it denoted all free citizens of the empire and not their origin. It should be noted that they themselves called their state Eastern Roman Empire and not Byzantine, while Constantinople was originally called New Rome.
During the fall of the empire and the separation of territories inhabited by foreigners, it becomes identified with what we now call Greek. During the Turkish occupation, the name Romios loses the glamor of the "imperial" Roman, and with the hard conditions of life under the enslavement, it acquires the meaning of a persuasive and cunning man.
Since the beginning of the 20th century, Romios was used as a contrast to the imitation of Europe, the popular Christian Byzantine Eastern physiognomy of the Modern Greek. The Latins continued to characterize the Greeks as Graikos. The name Romios is still used in Greece and especially in Turkey(Rum).
Yunan
Yunan, meaning Ionian, is the name given to the Greeks by the peoples of the East. It comes from the Persian word Yauna, from the name Ionia, since in the 6th century BC the Persians came into contact with the Greeks of Asia Minor and specifically with the Ionians, whom they conquered and thus named all Greeks like that without exception. Thus the use of this name spread among all peoples under Persian occupation and generally throughout the East.
Yavan (or Javan)
By this name, the Greeks are known among the peoples of the eastern Mediterranean from Biblical times, who are called the people who settled in the Balkans. The name Yavan is related to Yunan.
Achaioi, Danaoi, Argeioi
These are the names by which the Greeks are mentioned in Homer's works. The Achaeans(Achaioi) were the first Greek people to settle and rule Greece. The name Argeioi comes from Argos, which was the original capital of the Achaeans, while the name Danaoi comes from the people of the same name, which originally ruled the territory near Argos.
