Names of the Greeks
Let’s do a deep dive into the different ethnonyms for the Greek people. As a matter of methodology, we will be focusing primarily on Greeks from Greece rather than highlighting individual identities: e.g. Cypriots, Cappadocians, etc. Furthermore, one asterisk equals the term for the language and two for country.
Homeric and Mycenaean
Two main names used: Achaeans and Danaans which are echoed in the Bronze Age accounts of Greeks, but these are not used to represent the whole of Greek people in the modern day. Both terms have possible parallels in two groups of sea peoples recorded by the Egyptians: Danyan and Ekwesh. Achaean also is also potentially paralleled in Hittite sources.
Danaans - Δαναοί
𓂧𓄿𓇋𓋔𓇋𓅱 (d3iniw) - Medinet Habu
Ἀχαιοί (Ἀχαιϝοί)
𓇋𓀁𓏘𓄿𓍯𓄿𓆷𓄿 (iḳ3w3š3) - Merneptah, Kanak
** 𒄴𒄭𒅀𒉿(Aḫḫiyawa) or 𒄴𒄭𒅀 (Aḫḫiya)
Hellenes
The ancient Greeks would largely refer to themselves as Ἕλλην. Later, under Christianity, this would become synonymous with pagan, so it declined in usage throughout the Roman and Byzantine periods but didn’t disappear. During the revolution from the Ottomans, leaders called for the revival of the term, wanting to emphasize the relationship to Ancient Greeks.
Ἕλλην - Ancient Greek
Έλληνας - Modern Greek
Ελ̣ηνικέ - Tsakonian
Έλλενος - Pontic
*Ελλενικά - Pontic
Ελινικάνο - Romani
Greeks
The term Greek is largely an exonym that stemmed from Latin. The first Greek tribe that the Romans came into contact with was the Γραικοί (Graeci). This would spread into most languages to describe the Greeks. The only modern endonyms coming from this term is from the Southern Italian Greeks. There was an Italian loan present in Smyrniot, but it was one of a few. Kaliarda similarly featured an Italian loan for Greeks. Aromanian features the term as an exonym, but it is spoken in Greece so will be listed. (Sarakatsani does have Γρικιά listed as the word for Greece, but the textbook does not elaborate the usage)
Griko - Salento
Grèko/Grecanico - Calabrian
Γκρέκος - Kaliarda
Γραικός - Smyrniot
Γκρέκου - Aromanian
Grek - Tsalka Urum
*Grecheski - Tsalka Urum
**Gretsia - Tsalka Urum
Roman
Coming under the Roman empire and gaining citizenship, the Greeks adopted the term Ῥωμαῖος. This maintained the most common ethonym until Greek independence. When Byzantine territory fell, the Turks and Arabs adopted the term Rum for the territory and the Greek Orthodox christians (e.g. Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch (Arabic - بطريركية الروم الأرثوذكس في أنطاكية) or The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate (Turkish - Rum Ortodoks Ekümenik Patrikhanesi). The term survives until the modern day in Eastern Greek populations (Anatolian, Ukrainian, Caucasian, etc). These often distinguish Greeks from Greece from these Eastern Greeks. One derivative, Urum, denotes Turkophone Greeks in Ukraine and the Caucasus.
Ρουμαίος - Sarakatsani
Ρωμανιώτης/רומניוטי - Romaniote Jewish
*Ρωμανιώτικα/רומניוטיקה - Romaniote Jewish
Ρωμιός - Constantinopolitan
Ρουμιός - Lycian
رومیکا - Cappadocian (Rumi)*
Ρωμνός - Axenitic
*Ρωμάικα - Axenitic
Ρωμνιός - Aravaniot
Ρωμός - Pharasiot
Ρωμαίος - Pontic
*Ρωμαίικα - Pontic
Румеюс/Ромеюс - Mariupolitan
*Румэку/Румеку - Mariupolitan
Romeyos - Romeyka
**Romeyka - Romeyka
Ρούμ/Οὐρούμ - Karmanlidika
*Ρούμδζε/Οὐρούμδζε - Karmanlidika
**Ρουμιστάν - Karmanlidika
Urum - Cypriot Turkish
Урум/Ουρούμ/Urum - Crimean Urum
Urum - Tsalka Urum
Ουρούμιν - Pomak
Ionian
Similarly to Greek, the term Ionian stems from the Persians first coming into contact with the Ionians or Ἰάϝωνες (𐎹𐎢𐎴 /yauna/). Thus, most Eastern languages will use a derivative of this despite many coming into direct contact with Alexander the Great and later diadochi: Persian/Arabic - یونان (Yunan), Pali - 𑀬𑁄𑀦 (Yona), Sanskrit - यवन (Yavana), and Chinese 大宛 (Dayuan, Great Ionians). While this does not refer to Greeks as a whole, the word Ionian was first attested in the Bronze Age with the Egyptian ‘Great Ionia’ or 𓇌𓅱𓈖𓏭𓉻𓂝𓏛 (ywnj3’) and the Mycenaean word 𐀂𐀊𐀺𐀚(i-ja-wo-ne). As for modern endonyms, there are two interesting examples: Karamanlidika and Judeo-Greek which use both Roman and Ionian. For Karamanlidika, Γιουνάν refers to Greece rather than its native Greeks (Ρουμιστάν was listed for Greece, but Γιουνανιστάν is the more standard term). Cappadocian Greek and Smyrniot, in term, adopted the Turkish term for Greece (though Smyrniot also had other loans for the word). Judeo-Greek, however, has taken Yevanic to refer to the register to liken it to Ladino and Yiddish. It takes the Hebrew יון (Yevan) meaning Ionian and re-Hellenizing the term to have the -ιτικά ending.
Γιουνανλής - Smyrniot
**Γιουνανιστάν/Γιονανιστάν - Cappadocian Greek
Γιουνάν/Γιουνανλή - Karamanlidika
*Γιουνάνδζα - Karamanlidika
**Γιουνανιστάν - Karamanlidika
*Γεβανιτικά/יווניטיקה - Judeo-Greek
Others
Ραγιάς (slave) - Potamiot Cappadocian
Σ̈κλα (foreigner) - Arvanitika
*Σ̈κλιερίσ̈τικα/Σ̈κλιερίσ̈τε̱ - Arvanitika
Καλαμαράς (squid, coming from mainland Greek scholars using squid bones as pens) - Cypriot Greek
*Καλαμαρίστικα - Cypriot Greek
**Καλαμαρκά - Cypriot Greek
Kalamara - Cypriot Turkish
Χαουτίκ - Cypriot Arabic
