Graecus
/ˈɡrae̯.kus/noun
Latin for “Greek”; also used as an adjective meaning Greek or pertaining to the Greeks.
Did you know?The Latin form Graecus is the source of English words like Greek and a huge family of learned terms through Latin and Greek scholarship, showing how one ethnonym became a gateway to Western intellectual history.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*ǵerh₂-
“A proposed root sometimes connected by scholars to aging or old age, but not securely relevant to Graecus; the word’s deeper prehistory is uncertain.”
Pre-Latin / Pre-Roman
Unknown
*Graikoi
“An early ethnonym used by Greeks for a people from the region of Graia, later generalized by Romans to mean all Greeks.”
Ancient Greek
Greek
Γραικός (Graikós)
“A Greek ethnonym, originally referring to a particular Greek group or region.”
Classical Latin
Latin
Graecus
“Greek; a Greek person or something Greek.”
Late Latin
Latin
graecus
“Greek, used both as an ethnic label and as an adjective.”
Modern English
English
Greek
“A person from Greece or the Greek language and culture.”
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