Graecus

Forms

Graecus (feminine Graeca, neuter Graecum, adverb Graecē); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek Γραικός (Graikós, “Greek”).^[1][2][3] In Greek this was the name of the people around Dodona in Epirus, from the Epirote tribal name Γρᾶες (Grâes); its further origin is unknown.^[2] The Romans used it for all Greeks,^[2] and Aristotle is the first Greek writer to use it as an equivalent of “Hellenes”.^[4]

A theory of the historian Georg Busolt instead connects it with Graia, a town on the coast of Boeotia: Greek settlers from there took part in founding Cumae, where the Latins first met Greeks, so that the Romans would have extended their name to the whole people.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Plautus on, who uses it as an adjective (“Greek cupboards” in the Truculentus) and as a noun, of the cloaked Greeks who walk about with covered heads in the Curculio.^[5][2]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin the adjective described anything belonging to Greece or the Greeks,^[5] and in particular things written or spoken in Greek: Cicero speaks of a Roman who wrote a history in Greek and of translating e Graeco in Latinum, “from Greek into Latin”.^[5][6] Graecae litterae were Greek learning, the rhetoric and philosophy of Athens.^[3][7] It also named varieties of plants and animals: nux Graeca was the almond, faenum Graecum fenugreek and vīnum Graecum a wine made with salt water.^[5] As a noun it meant a Greek, and also a Greek scholar; the feminine was a Greek woman, the neuter the Greek language.^[5]

Two phrases were proverbial: Graecā fidē mercārī, to buy “on Greek credit”, meant to pay in cash,^[5][3] and Augustus said that bad debtors would pay ad Kalendās Graecās, on the Greek Kalends, that is never, because the Greek calendar had no Kalends.^[5][8]

In Medieval Latin it could refer to the Greek church.^[2] The Germanic languages borrowed it early with an initial /k/, probably the sound nearest to Latin /g/ at the time: Gothic 𐌺𐍂𐌴𐌺𐍃 (krēks), Old High German Chrech and Old English Crecas beside Grecas.^[4][1] English Greek comes from the Old English word.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of Greek things and of Greeks.^[5][2]
• 234–149 BC – Cato names a Greek willow and a Greek wine in his book on farming.^[5][2]
• 204–169 BC – Ennius uses the plural Graecī, “the Greeks”.^[3][2]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of Greek learning and the Greek language.^[5][2]
• c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius records Augustus' phrase ad Kalendās Graecās.^[5][2]
• c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville says the Greeks were named after a king Graecus.^[9][2]
• late 14th century – English Greek is first used for the Greek language.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of Greece or the Greeks, Greek, Grecian.^[5][1]
2. Written or spoken in Greek.^[5]
3. In the names of plants, animals and products: nux Graeca the almond, faenum Graecum fenugreek, vīnum Graecum a wine made with sea water.^[5]
4. (Medieval Latin) Of the Greek church.^[2]

Noun

1. (masculine) A Greek; a Greek scholar, Hellenist.^[5][3]
2. (feminine) A Greek woman.^[5][3]
3. (neuter) The Greek language;^[5][6] (neuter plural) Greek writings.^[5][6]

Word family

• Graecē
• graecissō
• graecitās
• graecor
• congraecō
• sēmigraecus

Related words

• Grāius
• Graecia
• English Greek
• English Grecian

Usage notes

Döderlein distinguishes three names: Graecī is the plain historical name of the nation, Graiī (the poetic form) has a note of praise, for the heroes of old, and Graeculī is contemptuous, for the Greeks of the Romans' own time;^[10] Graecus is what is truly Greek, while Graecānicus is what is only made in the Greek manner.^[10] The poetic Grāius is mostly found in verse from Ennius on.^[5]

Pliny the Elder mentions a king Graecus said to have given his name to Greece,^[6] and Isidore derives both Graecī and Graecia from this king.^[9]

The spelling graecus with a small letter is also found.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
3. ^ a b c d e f Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
10. ^ a b Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper