Etymograph

English

Pre-Greek

Calque of German Vorgriechisch.

Equivalent to pre- + Greek

Proto-Italic *prai ‘before’

Proto-Italic *prai- ‘pre-, before’

English pre-

Ancient Greek Ἕλλην ‘Hellenes’

Ancient Greek Γραικός

Latin Graecus ‘Greek, Grecian, of or pertaining to the Greek…’

Proto-West Germanic *Krēkō

Old English Grēcas ‘Greeks’

English Greek

Today it means

name A hypothetical language (or languages) conjectured to have been spoken in prehistoric Greece before the arrival of Proto-Greek speakers, and used to explain the large number of non-Indo-European words found in Ancient Greek.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Pre-Greek

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