The word, first attested in writers of the fifth century B.C., belongs to a large group of possessive adjectives in which are formed from ethnic names. A few of these occur in Homer () and in the early lyric poets, but examples become increasingly common in the fifth century and later; their characteristic function is to denote something as belonging to a people or city as a whole, as distinct from ethnic adjectives which are applied to persons.

The word , first attested in writers of the fifth century B.C., belongs to a large group of possessive adjectives in which are formed from ethnic names. A few of these occur in Homer () and in the early lyric poets , but examples become increasingly common in the fifth century and later; their characteristic function is to denote something as belonging to a people or city as a whole, as distinct from ethnic adjectives which are applied to persons.