 | curious |
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I recently went to greece on holiday and I noticed that many of the souvenirs had the following writing on them, ΕΛΛΑΣ, and I was wondering the significance. I have noticed that it seems to mean Hellas. Is that a place in Greece or another name for Greece? Is there any significance to this? If so what? |
| Re: curious |
ΕΛΛΑΣ is the name of Greece in Greece or in other words how Greeks call their country. In demotike it's ΕΛΛΑΔΑ  Greece and all the similar ones are derived from the name given to Greeks by the Romans and it's this one that comes from "a place in Greece" as opposed to Greece as a whole (same goes for "Yunanistan" and similar ;) ) So yes, there is some significance to it The "H" in Hellas comes from the ancient Greek pronounciation (and spelling of the world - with an aspiration accent which we nowdays no longer mark or pronounce- ). |
