Talk:Graecus

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[edit] Comments

Graecus is a discreet term, not the same as Graecians as it was used in the Roman era to designate Greek blood or lineage.

I also disagree. As a mythological figure, Graecus should have his own article. -Oreo Priest 23:28, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] IE *g'rayk(o)

This is interesting, from a Thracologist's paper [1]:

"Θρᾴκη/Ζραικη. The name of Thracia (Θρᾴκη- Thracia) and of the Thracians (Θρᾷκες=Thraces, Thraci) is Greek. Its oldest form, with a diphtong on a long degree /āy/ (which became in Ionian dialect, ēy), was Θρᾱικᾱ (Ion.Θρηικη, as we find everywhere in Herodotos). By monophtongation of the diphtong it then became Θρᾴκη, with the old iota of the diphtong remaining as iota subscriptum. But where did the Greeks take the old form from? Among the relics of Thracian languages is the name of the strategy Ζραικη (which is doubtlessly a grecization with the desinence -η, of an autochtonous Zraykā). It appears in the famous inscription of Flavius Dizalas, son of Ezbenis (IGB 4.2338, from Nicopolis ad Nestum, former Gărmen, from the end of 1st c. AD), who was, as he himself says,
"στρατηγος Ολυνθιας καί Ροιμηλητικής καί Δρησαπαϊκής καί Θουκυσιδαντικής καί....σηλητικής καί Ζραικής καί Αθιουτικής καί Βιολητικής..."
"strateg of Olynthia and of Roimeletica and of Dresapaica and of Thukysidantica and of...seletica and of Zraika and of Aċiutica and of Bioletica..."
Ζραικη [Thracian Zraykā] is thus the name of an administrative region (strategy) that could easily be the autochtonous (Thracian) variant of the Greek name Θραικη [Thraikē]. In the light of what we said before, the θ/ζ alternance, which appears at the initial letter of these two variants of a supposedly single name, should not surprise us at all. The [Z] in Ζραικη shows us that we deal here with a voiced sound and therefore, applying the conventions established previously, we shall transcribe this name by /ġrayk(o)/. At Indo-european level this is obviously an adjectival form, created with a suffix+thematic vowel –iko- (feminine –ika). There is a strong possibility to be equally the etymon of the Greek form Θραικη > Θρᾴκη (region name) and Θραικες > Θρᾶκες (tribe members' name), and of the Thracian form transcribed as Zραικη in the Flavius Dizalas inscription. Even more interesting is the fact that, if we admit, as we proposed above, that the TDM pair [ċ] şi [ġ] come from (originate from) the Indo-european *k' şi *g', then the root /ġrayk(o)/ is the semi-satәm form (if we could say so) of a radical *g'rayk(o). The centum form of the same name is Graykoi with the suffix -k (hence the Latin Graeci) and Grayoi without a suffix (Lat. Grai, Gk. Γραῖοι). This is another proof of the remote kinship of Greeks and Thracians."

He's saying that Graecus and Thracian probably have the same etymon and this may support his hypothesis that Hellenes and Thracians may have shared a common origin considerably later than PIE. Lisa the Sociopath (talk) 02:42, 7 February 2008 (UTC)