The Real Ethnic Composition of Modern Greece

[Risto the Great]

Petros.
I really think English is not your native language is it?
You don't really seem to understand "nuance" .
I will try to work with you. But this is a little painful mate.

The geographic Macedonians you raised referring to Misirkov is another issue altogether. He said we Macedonians were a group of people with identifiable ethnic character who identified with the geographic region of Macedonia (where we came from). This became the national/ethnic descriptor. What is so hard?

[Risto the Great]

What about Greeks of Macedonia prior to 1912 ?
Did they come from Mars?

Which ones?

[Petros Houhoulis]

Interesting, how does your language differ from lets say Greeks from Thessaly?

Άι βε; εiσαι σάψαλης; δεν ξέρεις πως πλαλούν τ'άλογα στον κάμπο;

(Darnakika dialect from my native region. The above sentence is not intelligible to any person who has not learned some basic terminology from our villages).

[toothpaste]

The geographic Macedonians you raised referring to Misirkov is another issue altogether. He said we Macedonians were a group of people with identifiable ethnic character who identified with the geographic region of Macedonia (where we came from). This became the national/ethnic descriptor. What is so hard?

When did this become ?
I guess he didnt think 1000 BC...

[toothpaste]

Which ones?

My great grandpas from Emathia and Chalkidiki for ex.

[Daskalot]

My great grandpas from Emathia and Chalkidiki for ex.

I sense that we have one that soon will claim purity......

[Areianos]

Well Risto, it's great to know we share the same heritage, I think it is great.

What do you think of Alexandros spreading Greek culture to the known world?

[Daskalot]

What about Greeks of Macedonia prior to 1912 ?
Did they come from Mars?

No, but there numbers was very small, you have also to be aware that many peoples adopted the Greek label when they moved upwards in the social network in the Ottoman empire, thus they were not Greek in the way you seem to mean it today.

[Areianos]

Considering we share the same heritage I am sure you go warm and fuzzu inside when you read this Homeric Hymn. Obviously Ares was reverred to the Northern Greeks as he was in SParta and Thessaly so i am sure you will feel some fuzziness inside.

(ll. 1-17) Ares, exceeding in strength, chariot-rider, golden- helmed, doughty in heart, shield-bearer, Saviour of cities, harnessed in bronze, strong of arm, unwearying, mighty with the spear, O defence of Olympus, father of warlike Victory, ally of Themis, stern governor of the rebellious, leader of righteous men, sceptred King of manliness, who whirl your fiery sphere among the planets in their sevenfold courses through the aether wherein your blazing steeds ever bear you above the third firmament of heaven; hear me, helper of men, giver of dauntless youth! Shed down a kindly ray from above upon my life, and strength of war, that I may be able to drive away bitter cowardice from my head and crush down the deceitful impulses of my soul. Restrain also the keen fury of my heart which provokes me to tread the ways of blood-curdling strife. Rather, O blessed one, give you me boldness to abide within the harmless laws of peace, avoiding strife and hatred and the violent fiends of death.

[Petros Houhoulis]

Petros.
I really think English is not your native language is it?
You don't really seem to understand "nuance" .
I will try to work with you. But this is a little painful mate.

The geographic Macedonians you raised referring to Misirkov is another issue altogether. He said we Macedonians were a group of people with identifiable ethnic character who identified with the geographic region of Macedonia (where we came from). This became the national/ethnic descriptor. What is so hard?

So, why did you use the names "Slavs", "Bulgarians", "Serbs" e.t.c. until the last half of the 19th century? Maybe because the name "Macedonia" was unknown to you until then?

Why did you call your original language "old church Slavonic" instead of "Old church Macedonian"?

What does Misirkov mean when he says the following:

http://makedonika.wordpress.com/2008/07/29/krste-misirkov-on-macedonian-matters-can-macedonia-turn-itself-into-a-separate-ethnographical-and-political-unit-1903/

http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/On_Macedonian_Matters#Can_Macedonia_turn_itself_into_a_separate_ethnographical_and_political_unit.3F_Has_it_already_done_so.3F_Is_it_doing_so_now.3F

"Certain historians and philologists claim that from the very time when the South Slavs first came to the Balkans differences existed among them, i.e. they were two separate peoples: the Slavs (Bulgarians and Slovenes) and the Serbo-Croats. This is the opinion of Kopitar, Miklosic and Safarik. Other historians, and particularly linguists, claim that all the South Slavs when they came to the Balkan Peninsula spoke different dialects (speech-forms) of a single language and that they were known by a common name: Slavs. The Serbo-Croats were also known as Slavs; the names Serb and Croat originated from the smaller South Slav groups and were tribal names which became national names only when the people who shared these names, i.e. the Serbs and the Croats, began to form larger states. All the Slavs who were subjects of the state of Serbia called themselves Serbs instead of Slavs, and all those who were subjects of the state of Croatia called themselves Croats. This is the opinion of Prof. Jagic and of many of his students. He regards the present South Slav languages not as three units strictly separated from one another but as a stream of individual speech-forms all running into one another, and forming, as it were, links in a chain."

How do you interpret it?

From what I see, you were Slavs who arrived in Macedonia, and used the name Macedonian Slav because that name was already there. There is no doubt that you didn't discover the name Macedonia on your own.

[Areianos]

No, but there numbers was very small, you have also to be aware that many peoples adopted the Greek label when they moved upwards in the social network in the Ottoman empire, thus they were not Greek in the way you seem to mean it today.

According to whom's source is leading you to believe Greeks in Macedonia were small in number considering only Greeks revolted in Macedonia in the 17th century?

[Areianos]

Greeks in Macedonia before the arrival of refugees was 850,000.

[Petros Houhoulis]

No, but there numbers was very small, you have also to be aware that many peoples adopted the Greek label when they moved upwards in the social network in the Ottoman empire, thus they were not Greek in the way you seem to mean it today.

Why was their number very small? Who were these Greek people in Macedonia, and what happened to the Macedonians when the Slavs arrived in the Balkans?

Can you answer those questions?

[toothpaste]

No, but there numbers was very small, you have also to be aware that many peoples adopted the Greek label when they moved upwards in the social network in the Ottoman empire, thus they were not Greek in the way you seem to mean it today.

Sources?
Was there a massive "Greek migration" then ?

[Daskalot]

According to whom's source is leading you to believe Greeks in Macedonia were small in number considering only Greeks revolted in Macedonia in the 17th century?

Now you are being naive, what did the term "Greek" mean in the 17th century?