Ancient Greeks called Pelasgian either the anscestors of the Hellenes or the Pre-Greek population inhabiting the Greek peninsula.
The Athenians considered themselves indigenous of Pelasgian origin. Some Pelasgians still lived in Athens during Classical times along the Hellenes.
They were resettled to the Hellespont and judging by their incomprehensible language the father of history Herodotus assumed that they were barbarian initially who relearned the language shifting to Greek.
Nevertheless there is evidence that the Pelasgian language had Greek like features. Herodotus also mentions that Pelasgians called their gods 'theoi' a clearly Greek word.
Many other areas of Greece were considered being Pelasgian in very old times -Thessaly, Arcadia,the islands of the Aegean and many more.
Even the Aeolians were considered initially Pelasgian.
According to Ancient Greeks Pelasgians also lived in Etruria , North Italy. That is interesting because an inscription in an unknown language written in the Greek alphabet and found in Lemnos, an Aegean island considered to be initially Pelasgian, seems to be related to Etruscan.
Today the Pelasgian or Pre-Greek issue is put on a new basis. Recent research sheds new light to the pre-Greek substratum. There seems to be only one substratum which is also Indo-European and that is the Luwian language or a related one.
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| Pre-Greek place names. |
The Luwian substratum spreads also over the place the Greek peninsula, the Aegean islands and even most of Anatolia.
The Aegean and the area around it is full of Pre-Greek names containing the letters ss,tt,nth,nd,ns like Tylissos,Tyrins, Parnassus,Hymmettus and many more that can explained with Luwian.
It wouldn't be surprising even if the elusive Minoan language turns out to be also Indo-European related to Luwian.
The above mentioned cannot exclude the possibility of indigenous populations living in the area before the Luwian arrival.
