Yona
The word Yona in Pali and the Prakrits, and the analogue Yavana in Sanskrit and Yavanar in Tamil, were words used in Ancient India to designate Greek speakers. "Yona" and "Yavana" are transliterations of the Greek word for "Ionians", who were probably the first Greeks to be known in India.
Both terms appear in ancient Sanskrit literature. Yavana appears, for instance, in the Mahabharata, while Yona appears in texts such as the Sri Lankan chronicle Mahavamsa.
The Yona are mentioned in the Ashoka inscriptions, along with the Kambojas, as two societies where there are only nobles and slaves.[1]
In general, the words "Yoṇa" or "Yoṇaka" were the current Greek Hellenistic forms, while the term "Yavana" was the Indian word to designate the Greeks or the Indo-Greeks.[2]
Further reading:
Yona, Wikipedia
Notes
- ↑ Thomas, Edward Joseph (1933). The History of Buddhist Thought. Asian Educational Services. p. 85 with footnote 2. ISBN 978-81-206-1095-8.
- ↑ The Greeks in Bactria and India by William Woodthorpe Tarn p.257
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