Dictionary

Pelasgian en · ADJ

Etymology

From Ancient Greek Πελασγός (Pelasgós) + -ian, presumably based on a Pre-Greek ethnonym. Compare Egyptian pwrꜣsꜣtj, an ethnonym listed as one of the Sea Peoples attacking Egypt around 1190 BCE.

Meanings

1. Of or pertaining to the Pelasgians, their culture, etc.
   • Croesus learns that of the Spartans and the Athenians, the one ethnos, the Spartans, was Dorian, the other, the Athenians, was Ionian; the one (obviously Athenians) were Pelasgian of old, the other (the Dorians) were Greek (Hellenikon). 2000, Rosalind Thomas, Herodotus in Context, Paperback edition, Cambridge University Press, page 119:
   • Until recently, the investigation of Pelasgian language and culture was treated as a special field of Indo-European studies because the majority of scholars were convinced that the pre–Greek population of Greece must have been of Indo-European ethnic stock. 2014, Harald Haarmann, Roots of Ancient Greek Civilization, McFarland & Company, page 17:
   • The very solemn and ancient observance of her^([Demeter's]) worship in Attica, which was so eminently a Pelasgian state in the time of Homer, entirely accords with the indications of the Homeric text. 1858, William Ewart Gladstone, Studies on Homer and the Homeric Age, Volume II, Oxford University Press, page 214:

Forms

Relateds

Pelasgia · Hellas · Hellene

Synonyms

Pelasgic

Translations (5)

de pelasgisch (pertaining to Pelasgians) · nl Pelasgisch (pertaining to Pelasgians) · cs pelasgický (pertaining to Pelasgians) · grc Πελασγῐκός (pertaining to Pelasgians) · la Pelasgus (pertaining to Pelasgians)

Pelasgian en · NOUN

Etymology

From Ancient Greek Πελασγός (Pelasgós) + -ian, presumably based on a Pre-Greek ethnonym. Compare Egyptian pwrꜣsꜣtj, an ethnonym listed as one of the Sea Peoples attacking Egypt around 1190 BCE.

Meanings

1. An inhabitant of pre-Hellenic Greece.
   • It seems evident that the Hellenes much excelled the Pelasgians in the spirit of enterprise and in military accomplishments. 1830, Henry Malden, History of Rome, Baldwin and Cradock, page 70:
   • In Homer the Pelasgians¹ are of little importance. They are inhabitants of Asia Minor, where they possess a Larissa, and fight in the ranks of the Trojan army. We also hear of Pelasgi among the inhabitants of Crete. 1895, Evelyn Abbott, A History of Greece, G. P. Putnam's Sons, page 27:

Forms

Translations (6)

grc Πελασγός (inhabitant of pre-Hellenic or proto-Hellenic Greece) · nl Pelasgiër (inhabitant of pre-Hellenic or proto-Hellenic Greece) · de Pelasger (inhabitant of pre-Hellenic or proto-Hellenic Greece) · cs Pelasg (inhabitant of pre-Hellenic or proto-Hellenic Greece) · la Pelasgus (inhabitant of pre-Hellenic or proto-Hellenic Greece) · fr Pélasges (inhabitant of pre-Hellenic or proto-Hellenic Greece)

Pelasgian en · PROPN

Etymology

From Ancient Greek Πελασγός (Pelasgós) + -ian, presumably based on a Pre-Greek ethnonym. Compare Egyptian pwrꜣsꜣtj, an ethnonym listed as one of the Sea Peoples attacking Egypt around 1190 BCE.

Meanings

1. The language spoken by the Pelasgians.
   • […]Malte-Brun described Pelasgian as a primitive version of Greek, and distinguished it from Illyrian, which he regarded as a branch of the Thracian language. 2002, Noel Malcolm, “Myths of Albanian National Identity”, in Stephanie Schwandner-Sievers, Bernd Jürgen Fischer, editors, Albanian Identities, Indiana University Press, page 76:
   • 1869, Journal of the Ethnological Society of London, New Series, Volume 1, Ethnological Society of London, Trübner and Co. page 324, Pelasgian, therefore, is regarded by him as convertible with Illyrian, and that with Gueg, subject to modifications of Tosk and relations therewith.

Translations (1)

de Pelasgisch (language of the Pelasgians)