Revue Belge de Philologie et d’Histoire / Belgisch Tijdschrift voor Filologie en Geschiedenis, 90, 2012, p. 939– 966 Greek
Angela Ralli (1)
1. The identity of Greek
1.1. The name
The national/ official name of the country, the people and the language are respectively Eλλάδα, Έλληνας, ελληνικά ([ eláδa, élinas, eliniká]), derived from Ancient Greek Ἑλλάς, Ἕλλην, ἑλληνικός ([ hellás, héllen, hellenikós]) ‘ Greece, Greek (noun), Greek (adj.)’, which are also to be found in most European languages as Hellas, hellenic, hellénique etc.; Hellenic Republic is the official name of the country in the European Union. The etymology of these words is uncertain. They first occur in the Iliad of Homer (2.683-4) as a designation of a small area in Thessaly, the homeland of Achilles, and its people. (3) Also in Homer, it is possible to find the compound
πανέλληνες ([ panhellenes]) denoting all Greeks (from adjective pan ‘ all’ + noun hellen), and it is again uncertain under what historical circumstances this local appellation spread to the totality of the Greek nation, although various theories have been proposed (see Babiniotis 2002). In classical times,
(1) Angela Ralli (ralli@ upatras. gr) is Professor of Linguistics at the University of Patras. She has studied Linguistics at the University of Montreal (B. A., M. A., Ph. D.), speaks fluently four languages (Greek, English, French and Italian), and has a research competence in Spanish, German and Turkish. In 1999, she was awarded the Canadian Faculty Enrichment Award, in 2008 and 2013 the VLAC Research Fellowship of the Flemish Royal Academy and in 2012 the Seeger Research Fellowship of Princeton University. Her main research interests are in the domains of Morphology, Dialectal Morphological Variation and Computational Morphology, and she is the author of over 120 publications. Angela Ralli has been an invited professor at numerous European, Canadian and American Universities and is a member of the board of international journals and of scientific and organizing committees (Mediterranean Morphology Meeting and Modern Greek Dialects and Linguistic Theory Conference). She directed/ directs several projects on morphology and dialectal variation, and participates/ ed in various ‘ paneuropean’ programs. (2) Several experts have contributed to the realization of this paper. Special thanks are due to A. Archakis, S. Beis, K. Kostiou, S. Moschonas, D. Papazachariou, S. Rangos, A. Roussou, and S. Tsolakidis for their significant assistance. I am grateful to Ms. Zagouta of the Ministry of Education, Lifelong Learning and Religious Affairs for providing me with valuable information on teaching Greek abroad. Most of all, I am particularly indebted to I. Manolessou for her precious help especially with the first two chapters. (3) «Oἵ τ’ εἶχον Φθίην ἠδ’ Ἑλλάδα καλλιγύναικα, Μυρμιδόνες δὲ καλεῦντο καὶ Ἕλληνες καὶ Ἀχαιοί » ‘ And they possessed Phthia or Hellas with the beautiful women, and were called Myrmidons and Hellenes and Achaeans’.
