Etymologically
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Graecus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈɡrae̯.kʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈɡrɛː.kus][1]

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
  • 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