Etymology of the word Pelasgian

[wvwvw]

It means 'flatlanders" or "sea men" or something to that effect. Nothing about cities.

The word Pelagos probably came about from the words Aigialea and Pelasgia. The name "Pelasgialeans" was probably the original name of all the Greek speaking tribes.

Pella has to be a Pelasgian name since Macedonia was where all the Greek tribes originated from. This might go some way to explain the alliance between the Arkadians and Makedonians in the fourth century.

The Greeks all originated from Macedonia which is where the oldest inscriptions are dating back 8000 years.

The archaeology indicates that the Greeks migrated south from Macedonia and it must be Macedonia where Pelasgian evolved which explains the similarities between Greek and Phrygian and Thracian. Greek writing is documented in Macedonia as far back as 5000 BC and predate Sumerian by far.

The dialects and variations of the generic tribal names which exist in Greece indicate that the Greek language evolved 9000 years ago so would be consistent with early Greek tribe migrating to Crete and Cyprus at that time for which there is evidence for.

The stone construction on the mainland was completely different to that of Crete. Therefore the Pelasgians cannot have come from Crete. The Archaeology show a gradual movement of Pelasgian stone cutting and pot making culture moving from north to south and then moving into Crete.

With the earlier capital of Makedonia known as Aigai before the 4th century
Aigai = Aigaion = Aigialeon = Pelasgaileon capital was built at Pella, you can sense this relationship. The new name Pella, however it still seems to suggest a northwards migration of Pelasgians (as evidenced by the Makedonians claiming their descent from Argive Herakles and Tegean Phylakos), hence pointing to the southern formation of the southern Pelasgians. The Pelasgian push northwards is also found in the settlement of Mysia by Tegean Telephus. This migration was not until 735 BC.

[Danaan]

It means 'flatlanders" or "sea men" or something to that effect. Nothing about cities.

We don't know what it means. Scholars make speculations.

Julius Pokorny derives Pelasgoi from *pelag-skoi

Πώς παράγεται αυτό; Δηλαδή έχουμε τo θέμα *pelag. Το ύπολοιπο τι είναι; Κατάληξη; Επίθημα; Γιατί δεν ήταν Πελάγιοι, ας πούμε;

[Hellenas]

Herodotus wrote: «What language the Pelasgians used I cannot say for certain, but if I may conjecture from those Pelasgians who still exist… they spoke a barbarian language» .

A Turk cherry picking Herodotus.

THE PELASGIANS-DIRECT ANCESTORS OF THE HELLENES.

Christos Mergoupis

Based on a number of classical quotes, that the Pelasgians were Hellenes (Greeks), and the direct ancestors of later Greek tribes. Some of the components of these theories are as follows:

That the term "barbarian" had a dual meaning. Aside from meaning "non-Hellenic," the term "barbarian" has been used by Greek tribes/city-states to deride other Greek tribes/city-states that were deemed unsophisticated in their use of the Hellenic language/culture (Foreigners and Barbarians). When Demosthenes of Athens attacked Philip II of Macedon, in the Third Philippic, Demosthenes deemed the Macedonians as non-Hellenic, unrelated to the Hellenes, and not even worthy of being deemed as "barbarians." The utilization of the term in many ancient Greek accounts is representative of the competition that existed among various Greek city-states, tribes, and civilizations.

From the dual meaning of the term "barbarian", some propose that when Herodotus deemed the Pelasgians as "barbaric", he did not imply that they were non-Hellenes. In support of this interpretation, these theorists point to the passage where Herodotus deems the Hellenes a branch of the Pelasgians (Herodotus on the Pelasgians and the Early Hellenes). Herodotus 1.57 concludes that the Athenians "changed language" when they "joined the Hellenic body"; but this may be open to different interpretations. Herodotus also tells of a war in which the Athenians expelled the Pelasgians from Attica to Lemnos. Yet, Herodotus is known for not distinguishing the difference between dialects and languages that are completely separate (Herodotus' Conception of Foreign Languages). As a result of the ambiguity of Herodotus in distinguishing languages from dialects, one can propose that the language of the Pelasgians was a "barbaric" (or unsophisticated) form of Hellenic as opposed to it being non-Hellenic.

That the autochthonous nature of the Athenians — an ancient belief to which Herodotus, Isocrates, Plutarch and others attest — implies they are descended from the autochthonous Pelasgians. The Athenians deemed themselves "true Hellenes" due to their well-developed society.

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Contrary to modern understanding, Herodotus was convinced that the Hellenes were not invaders, but descendents of Pelasgians:

"The Hellenic race has never, since its first origin, changed its speech. This at least seems evident to me. It was a branch of the Pelasgic, which separated from the main body, and at first was scanty in numbers and of little power; but it gradually spread and increased to a multitude of nations, chiefly by the voluntary entrance into its ranks of numerous tribes of barbarians. The Pelasgi, on the other hand, were, as I think, a barbarian race which never greatly multiplied."

That the Athenians were autochthonous Hellenes was expressed mythically in the stories of Erechtheus and Erichthonius and was emphatically stated by Isocrates in Panegyric 23-5:

"For we did not win the country we dwell in by expelling others from it, or by seizing it when uninhabited, nor are we a mixed race collected together from many nations, but so noble and genuine is our descent, that we have continued for all time in possession of the land from which we sprang, being children of our native soil, and able to address our city by the same titles that we give to our nearest relations, for we alone of all the Hellenes have the right to call our city at once nurse and fatherland and mother."

Pelasgians, the oldest known inhabitants of Greece, are supposed to take their name from Pelasgus, youngest son of Niobe, and are traditionally represented as a wandering people who left traces of their presence in every part of Hellas (Pelasgiotis, a district of Thessaly; the Pelasgicum or oldest parts of the Acropolis of Athens, built by them etc.). Regarding their origin and ethnical relations to the Greeks proper much diversity of opinion prevails; but although Herodotus distinguishes between them and the "true" Hellenes, and speaks of Pelasgian dialects still surviving in his time at Creston, in Thrace, and at Placia, in the Hellespont, Dionysius is probably right in regarding the Pelasgians as essentially Greeks. It may, in fact, be inferred from Thucydides that they represent the first waves of Hellenic migration into Greece and the islands, where they continued to lead wandering lives as pirates and rovers on the sea and marauders on the mainland before forming settled communities. According to this view, which seems most in accord with the national traditions, the Pelasgian dialects mentioned by Herodotus would represent an archaic form of Greek before it became differentiated into the later Aeolic, Doric, and Ionic dialects.

Quotes from ancient writings:

1. "The Hellenic race has never, since its first origin, changed its speech. This at least seems evident to me. It was a branch of the Pelasgic, which separated from the main body, and at first was scanty in numbers and of little power; but it gradually spread and increased to a multitude of nations, chiefly by the voluntary entrance into its ranks of numerous tribes of barbarians." (Herodotus, Histories 1.58)

2. "Before the time of Hellen, son of Deucalion ... the country went by the names of the different tribes, in particular of the Pelasgian. It was not till Hellen and his sons grew strong in Phthiotis, and were invited as allies into the other cities, that one by one they gradually acquired from the connection the name of Hellenes; though a long time elapsed before that name could fasten itself upon all."
(Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 1.1.3)

3. "... Pelasgians, a Greek nation which did not came from elsewhere but we were born autochthonous." (Plutarch, Peri fyges 604D-E,13)

4. "... for the Pelasgians, too, were a Greek nation originally from the Peloponnesus."
(Dionysius of Halicarnassus. Roman Antiquities 1.17)

5. "This was the next Greek nation after the Pelasgians to come into Italy and to take up a common residence with the Aborigines, establishing itself in the best part of Rome."
(Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities 1.33)

6. "As for the Pelasgi, almost all agree, in the first place, that some ancient tribe of that name spread throughout the whole of Greece, and particularly among the Aeolians of Thessaly." (Strabo, Geography V.2)

7. "And I think that it was the fame of this city [Argos] that prepared the way, not only for the Pelasgians and the Danaans, as well as the Argives, to be named after it, but also for the rest of the Greeks" (Strabo, Geography VIII.6)

8. "Paris was absent. But soon afterwards, he brought into that land a ravished wife, Helen, the cause of a disastrous war, together with a thousand ships, and all the great Pelasgian nation." (Ovid, The Metamorphoses XII)

9. "ZEUS PELASGIAN GOD OF DODONE!!!"(invocation of Achilles, Homer's Iliad, lyrics: 2

[wvwvw]

And let's take a look what ancient writers wrote about Pelasgians:

[Apollodoros M. 11.2,3]
PELASGIANS, was the unitary name which represented the Greek nation as a whole, before the cataclysm of Deukalion & the following division into the known Greek tribes of Danaans, Achaeans, Dorians, Aeolians, Ionians, etc
Pelasgos was the son of Zeus & Niobis, native grandfather of Thessalos, progenitor of the Pelasgians.

Homer, Sophocles, Hesiodos, Thucydides, Hecataeus, Apollodoros, Plutarch, Herodotos, Strabo, Aeneas Virgilius, Ovidius, Dionysios Alikarnasseus all said that Pelasgians were Greek

Plutarchos calls Pelasgians a Greek nation:

"...Pelasgians, a Greek nation which did not came from elsewhere but we were born autochthonous"
(Plutarchos Peri fyges 604D-E,13)

Strabo says that Pelasgians were Greeks as the Danaans and Argeians
"I think it was the glory of the city which prepared them to be called after her, the Pelasgians, the Danaans & the Argeians and the other Greeks."
(Strabo G H VI 8)

All Latin poets called the Greeks Pelasgoi:

Virgilius as all Latin poets was calling the Greeks "PELASGI"
eg:"Reges Pelasgi" (Aeneas A624)

The Greek Pelasgians were the first to colonize Italy "Pelasgi qui primi coluisse Italiam" (AGell.Atticae A10)

Also Latin poet Ovidius refering 2 the events of the Trojan War identifies the Pelasgians with the Greeks
(Metamorphoses XII XIII)

"This was the next Greek nation after the Pelasgians to come into Italy and to take up a common residence with the Aborigines, establishing itself in the best part of Rome"
(Dionysios Alikarnasseus-Roman Antiquities)

Hectacos: Pelasgos from which Pelasgians derived was GREEK KING FROM THESSALY
Acousilaos: Pelasgos was Greek his father was Lycaon, both of Peloponnesian genealogy
In Prometheus: Pelasgian land means GREEK ARGOS
Ephoros: Pelasgian simply means prehistoric GREEK
Sophoclis: Pelasgian is synonymous to Greek
Thucydidis shares the same general view that Pelasgians are early Greeks
Dionysios Alikarnasseus: The Greek Pelasgians came to Rome

[wvwvw]

The Turks were a bunch of nomads with a very simplistic vocabulary of no more than 600 words. Over 50% of the Turkish words is corrupted Greek and that can be seen from the many IE words in the Altaic derived Turkish language.

[wvwvw]

The Pelasgi lived inland. Just look at where the Arcadians lived who were originally Pelasgi. Pelasgi means City Dwellers (Polis-Gia) or Polis-Yious i.e sons of city.

The Athenians were Pelasgians, Earth Born and the Ionians were Aiglialean Inachids who according to the archaeology were descended from the Greek tribes who migrated to the Greek peninsula in 1600 BC.

The Pelasgi did NOT speak the Hellenic dialect of Greek and did not multiply much. Hellenic was a dialect of Pelagic and the Hellenic speakers the Inachids (Achaean, Attic and Ionian speakers) and Iapetids (Aeolian speakers) did multiply.

[wvwvw]

The Pelasgians that lived from 1600 to 1500 BC were intermixed with the Cretans but the Pelasgians that came after them were a different civilisation that came from the north. They were still all Greeks since both civilisations used the name Pelasgain to describe themselves as city dwellers. There is also the Greek Danai who returned from Egypt in about 1480 BC who must have descended from the Greek Hyksos which is a corruption of Akhaiwoi or Akhiyawa or Ekwesh. This would make the Danai Aigialeans or coastal dwellers descended from Io who was the daughter of Inachus and the sister of Aigialeus.

It took at least 2 generations until the time of Nyctimus for all of Arkadia to be settled and over 50 cities to be built, hence the name Pelasgians or City Dwellers.

Pelasgian was the Greek term for city dweller and applied to all city dwellers who were GREEKS. The Greeks had a special name for foreigners. The Arcadian dialect is directly related to the Cypriot and the Cypriot to the Cretan. These Pelasgians were clearly GREEK speakers.

The Pelasgians were named after the Polis. The Greeks already had the word Polis and its variants otherwise they would not have called the Aigialeans Pelasgians.

Pelasgian means city dweller and Aigialean meant someone who dwelled on the coast.

[Dick]

RAINE I'LL BUY YOU A SANDWICH IF YOU PM YOUR PIC.

[wvwvw]

Julius Pokorny derives Pelasgoi from *pelag-skoi

Πώς παράγεται αυτό; Δηλαδή έχουμε τo θέμα *pelag. Το ύπολοιπο τι είναι; Κατάληξη; Επίθημα; Γιατί δεν ήταν Πελάγιοι, ας πούμε;

There is no such Greek ending as ski. Ski is Slavic.

The only way Pelasgos can be broken up in Greek is into "Pelas" and "Gios" where Gios can mean either "of the Earth" or Yios meaninf "Son of".

There is every indication that all the tribes of mainland Greece were called Pelasgi even the Aegialeans, the Hellenes and Enhelenes. Herodotus says that Hellenic was originally a dialect of Pelasgic and Hellas is a corruption of Pelas(gia).

The Arcadians were the same people as the Aigialeans. All you have to do is look at the name Arkas who was the king Arkadia was named after. In Linear-B K would be interchangeable with G therefore Arkas is the same name as Argas or Argos thus the Arkadians were Argives and the Argives were also Aigialeans since Phoroneus was the brother of Aigialeus.

If you the name Arkadia derives from the name Arkas then the "dia" in the name has to mean "land" and must be a corruption of the word "gia", therefore Arkadia is also Arga-gia which must be the same word as Aigialea.

The most likely scenario is that Arkadia was populated by the decedents of two tribes, one of which was there originally and probably came from Crete and the other which moved in later on.

Each tribe pronounced Pe-R/La-(s) G/Ki-(a) (a)-R/Li in different ways

In fact the above suggest that there may have been three different tribes which occupied the land since each of the words Pe-R/La-(s), G/Ki-(a) and (a)-R/Li means HOME. Pe-R/La-(s) is "settlement", G/Ki-(a) is "land" and "(a)-R/Li" is also the same word as Area meaning "open land" which can have the meaning of Sea. So all the words meaning home were combined into the name of the land.

In fact Pe-R/La-(s) G/Ki-(a) (a)-R/Li may have also been the royal title of the king of the land which was later shorted to Arcas, or Argus or Pelasgus, or Aigialeus.

What we know is that Greece was not called Hellas until 776 BC about 200 years after Homer therefore Hellas has to be a corruption of "Pe-R/La-(s)" meaning "settlement".

The land was only called Greece by the Greeks who colonised Italy and these Greeks who were the first colonists were Arkadians led by Oenotrus the son of Lycaon in about 1460 BC. Therefore Greece must be a corruption of the phrase "G/Ki-(a) (a)-R/Li-(s)" meaning "land which is open" indicating it was composed of islands surrounded by sea.

In fact "Pe-R/La-(s)" sounds so close to "G/Ki-(a) (a)-R/Li-(s)" that it is most probably a corruption of that phrase which was made by one of the tribes which colonised Greece who picked up the phrase from the first
settlers who were in Crete and Cyprus in 7000 BC whcih is when the Greek language was born and out of Greek were born all the other European languages and the Phoenician language.

It was not until between 1350 BC and 1100 BC that the distinction between R and L and between K and G was made by the Greeks otherwise they would have included extra letters in Linear-B. Nor was there a distinction between P and B.

[Scholarios]

There is no consensus among scholars on the etymology of the word, but Pelagsi certainly has precedent in Indo-European languages. There will probably never be a certain etymology for the word.

We also have the Cretan Sea- i.e. Kritiko Pelagos which is closer than any weird etymology about "city dwellers". Also, we have the historically contemporary "Sea Peoples" coming out of the area.