Hellene
(hɛˈliːn, ˈhɛliːn)
Also 7–8 Hellen.
[a. Gr. Ἕλλην a Greek. The pl. occurs first in Homer, as the name of a Thessalian tribe of which Hellen was chief; in the historical period it was the name applied to themselves by all Greeks.]
A Greek: a. An ancient Greek, of genuine Grecian race. b. A subject of the modern kingdom of Greece or Hellas.
| 1662 Stillingfl. Orig. Sacr. iii. iv. §12 Although the name of Hellens at last spread its self over all the people of Greece, yet it was at first peculiar to that part of Thessaly called Pthiotis. 1835 Thirlwall Greece I. 379 A general congress of the Hellenes. 1896 Whitaker's Alm. 550/2 George, second son of the present King of Denmark..elected King of the Hellenes..1863. |
Hence Heˈllenedom, the Grecian realm or world; † Heˈllenish a. = Hellenistic.
| 1659–60 Jer. Taylor in Evelyn's Diary (1852) III. 128 The word is used by the Hellenish Jews to signify any place of spiritual and immaterial pleasure. 1891 Q. Rev. July 188 Athens, even in the first Christian centuries the Capital of Hellenedom. |