Editing Pelasgians (section)

=== Pelasgian as pre-Indo-European ===
==== Unknown origin ====
{{main article|Dorian invasion#Kretschmer's external Greeks}}
One theory uses the name "Pelasgian" to describe the inhabitants of the lands around the [[Aegean Sea]] before the arrival of [[Proto-Greek]] speakers, as well as traditionally identified enclaves of descendants that still existed in classical Greece. The theory derives from the original concepts of the [[philology|philologist]] [[Paul Kretschmer]], whose views prevailed throughout the first half of the 20th century and are still given some credibility today.

Though [[Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff|Wilamowitz-Moellendorff]] wrote them off as mythical, the results of archaeological excavations at [[Çatalhöyük]] by [[James Mellaart]] and Fritz Schachermeyr led them to conclude that the Pelasgians had migrated from Asia Minor to the Aegean basin in the [[4th millennium BC]].<ref>{{harvnb|Schachermeyr|1976}}; {{harvnb|Mellaart|1965–1966}}; {{harvnb|Mellaart|1975|loc="Southeastern Europe: The Aegean and the Southern Balkans"}}.</ref> In this theory, a number of possible non-Indo-European linguistic and cultural features are attributed to the Pelasgians:
* Groups of apparently non-Indo-European loan words in the [[Greek language]], borrowed in its prehistoric development.
* Non-Greek and possibly non-Indo-European roots for many Greek toponyms in the region, containing the consonantal strings "-'''nth'''-" (e.g.,{{nbs}}[[Corinth]], [[Probalinthos]], [[Zakynthos]], [[Amarynthos]]), or its equivalent "-ns-" (e.g.,{{nbs}}[[Tiryns]]); "-'''tt'''-", e.g.,{{nbs}}in the peninsula of [[Attica]], Mounts [[Hymettus]] and [[Penteli|Brilettus/Brilessus]], [[Lycabettus]] Hill, the [[deme]] of Gargettus, etc.; or its equivalent "-'''ss'''-": [[Larissa]], Mount [[Parnassus]], the river names [[Cephissus (Athenian plain)|Kephissos]] and [[Ilissos]], the Cretan cities of [[Amnisos|Amnis(s)os]] and [[Tylissos]] etc. These strings also appear in other non-Greek, presumably substratally inherited nouns such as ''asáminthos'' (bathtub), ''ápsinthos'' ([[absinth]]), ''terébinthos'' ([[Pistacia terebinthus|terebinth]]), etc. Other placenames with no apparent Indo-European etymology include ''Athēnai'' ([[Athens]]), ''Mykēnai'' ([[Mycene]]), [[Messene|Messēnē]], ''Kyllēnē'' ([[Kastro-Kyllini|Cyllene]]), [[Cyrene, Libya|Cyrene]], [[Mytilene]], etc. (note the common '''-ēnai/ēnē''' ending); also [[Ancient Thebes (Boeotia)|Thebes]], [[Delphi]], [[Lindos]], [[Rhamnus (Greek archaeological site)|Rhamnus]], and others.<ref>{{harvnb|Beekes|2009}}.</ref>
* Certain [[mythology|mythological]] stories or deities that seem to have no parallels in the mythologies of other Indo-European peoples (e.{{nbs}}g., the Olympians [[Athena]], [[Dionysus]], [[Apollo]], [[Artemis]], and [[Aphrodite]], whose origins seem [[Anatolia]]n{{Clarification needed|reason=Anatolian peoples are mostly Indo-European, so why would Anatolian connections indicate a non-Indo-European origin?|date=June 2024}} or [[Levant]]ine).{{Citation needed|date=June 2024}}
* Non-Greek inscriptions in the Mediterranean, such as the [[Lemnos stele]].

The historian [[George Grote]] summarizes the theory as follows:{{Sfn|Grote|1862|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=iikrVUCRZeMC&pg=PA43 43–44]}}
{{quote|There are, indeed, various names affirmed to designate the ante-Hellenic inhabitants of many parts of Greece{{snd}}the Pelasgi, the [[Leleges]], the [[Curetes (tribe)|Curetes]], the [[Caucones|Kaukones]], the [[Aonia|Aones]], the Temmikes, the [[Hyas|Hyantes]], the [[Telchines]], the Boeotian [[Thrace|Thracians]], the Teleboae, the Ephyri, the [[Phlegyas|Phlegyae]], &c. These are names belonging to legendary, not to historical Greece{{snd}}extracted out of a variety of conflicting legends by the [[logographer (history)|logographers]] and subsequent historians, who strung together out of them a supposed history of the past, at a time when the conditions of historical evidence were very little understood. That these names designated real nations may be true but here our knowledge ends.}}

The poet and mythologist [[Robert Graves]] asserts that certain elements of that mythology originate with the native Pelasgian people (namely the parts related to his concept of the [[White Goddess]], an [[archetype|archetypical]] [[Goddess|Earth Goddess]]) drawing additional support for his conclusion from his interpretations of other ancient literature: Irish, [[Literature of Wales (Welsh language)|Welsh]], Greek, [[Bible|Biblical]], [[Gnosticism|Gnostic]], and [[Middle Ages|medieval]] writings.<ref>{{harvnb|Graves|1990|loc=Volume 1}}. Graves also imaginatively reconstructs a "[[Pelasgian creation myth]]", which involves a creatrix "[[Eurynome]]" and a serpent "[[Ophion]]".</ref>

==== Minoan ====
According to the Russian historian and linguist [[Igor M. Diakonoff]], the Pelasgians may have been related to the [[Minoan civilization|Minoans]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Diakonoff |first=I. M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JU8pegs94uoC&pg=PA317 |title=Early Antiquity |date=28 June 2013 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-14467-2 |page=317 |language=en}}</ref> A number of scholars consider Minoan to be essentially the same language as Pelasgian.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Millar |first=R. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NGKJDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA39 |title=Authority and Identity: A Sociolinguistic History of Europe before the Modern Age |date=21 July 2010 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-0-230-28203-2 |page=39 |language=en |quote=In the Greek islands and possibly also the Peloponnese were speakers of a language scholars sometimes call Minoan, after the great civilization associated with Crete in the second millennium BCE, or Eteo-Cretan. It is probably the language of the Minoan A script, which has largely escaped deciphering. A number of scholars consider this to be essentially the same language as Pelasgian.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Budin |first=Stephanie Lynn |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HzeJbz7ybAMC&pg=PA404 |title=The Ancient Greeks: An Introduction |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-19-537984-6 |pages=404 |language=en}}</ref>

==== Ibero-Caucasian ====
Some [[Georgia (country)|Georgian]] scholars (including R. V. Gordeziani, M. G. Abdushelishvili and Z. Gamsakhurdia) connect the Pelasgians with the [[Caucasian Iberians|Ibero-Caucasian]] peoples of the prehistoric [[Caucasus]], known to the Greeks as [[Colchians]] and [[Caucasian Iberians|Iberians]].{{Sfn|Gordeziani|1985}}{{Sfn|Kaigi|1969|loc=M. G. Abdushelishvili, "The Genesis of the Aboriginal Population of the Caucasus in the Light of Anthropological Data"}} According to [[Stephen F. Jones]], these scholars portray Georgia as a source of spirituality in the Greek world by {{qi|manipulating Greek and Roman sources in a highly dubious manner}}.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Jones |first=Stephen F. |author-link=Stephen F. Jones |title=Memory, History and Opposition: Under State Socialism |date=1994 |publisher=[[School for Advanced Research|School of American Research Press]] |isbn=978-0-85255-902-4 |editor-last=Watson |editor-first=Rubie S. |page=163 |language=en |chapter=Old Ghosts and New Chains: Ethnicity and Memory in the Georgian Republic |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m6h-5l2anLgC&pg=PA163}}</ref>