Ethnos

Language: Greek

• What it means: Nation

• Word origin: Like many ancient Greek words that have been adopted into other languages, ‘ethnos’ has gone through different shades of meaning over the centuries. Originally it referred to any large group of people or animals, then later came to mean a “nation, tribe, or group of people with a common tradition”. In the Greek Bible the word often specifically meant “foreigners” or “Gentiles”. In the mid-20^th century the English terms ‘ethnic group’, ‘ethnicity’, and ‘ethnology’ borrowed the earlier meaning of a group sharing cultural characteristics—overlapping with, but distinct from, the concept of ‘race’. ‘Ethnic’ (as in ‘restaurant’) still tends to connote something exotic or outside the mainstream.

In modern Greek, on the other hand, it pretty much means ‘nation’ without the implication of being foreign. This can be seen in terms like ‘ethnikós ýmnos’ (national anthem), ‘ethnikismós’ (nationalism), and ‘Inoména Éthni’ (the United Nations).

• Sample sentence: “Zíto to Ellinikó Éthnos!” (Long live the Greek Nation!)

• Does it work in English? Not in its original form, except for Ethnos, a fantasy board game. In Greece, Ethnos is also the name of a news website (and former newspaper). See other publications around the world sharing the same meaning: The Nation (USA); The Nation (Nigeria); La Nación (Argentina, Costa Rica); La Nazione (Florence); and Narod (Croatia).