Pelasgian

American  

[puh-laz-jee-uhn, -juhn, -gee-uhn] / pəˈlæz dʒi ən, -dʒən, -gi ən /

adjective

1. of or relating to the Pelasgians.

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noun

1. a member of a prehistoric people inhabiting Greece, Asia Minor, and the islands of the eastern Mediterranean.

Pelasgian British  

/ pɛˈlæzdʒɪən /

noun

1. a member of any of the pre-Hellenic peoples (the Pelasgi ) who inhabited Greece and the islands and coasts of the Aegean Sea before the arrival of the Bronze Age Greeks

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adjective

1. of or relating to these peoples

Etymology

Origin of Pelasgian

1480–90; ≪ Greek Pelásgi ( os ) Pelasgian ( Pelasg ( oí ) Pelasgi + -ios adj. suffix) + -an

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Pelasgian

They were Pelasgian, but by a certain time 'changed into Hellenes and learnt the language'.

From Five Stages of Greek Religion by Gilbert Murray

Besides the Achaean Earth-shaking brother of Zeus in Thessaly there seems to be some Pelasgian or Aegean god present in him.

From Five Stages of Greek Religion by Gilbert Murray

This Pelasgian name commands the sympathy of the poet and his laudatory epithets; but is nowhere used for the higher class or for the entire nation.

From Great Men and Famous Women, Vol. 7 A Series of Pen and Pencil Sketches of the Lives of More Than 200 of the Most Prominent Personages in History by Charles F. (Charles Francis) Horne

The population, however, of Pelasgicon Argos and of Dodona is no longer Pelasgian.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 12, Slice 4 "Grasshopper" to "Greek Language" by Various

"Pelasgian" may be regarded as equivalent to " pre-historic Greek ".

From Myth, Ritual And Religion, Vol. 2 (of 2) by Andrew Lang