Macedonia (terminology)

Historical Macedonia
Ancient Macedon	Roman Province
Byzantine province (approximate borders)	Ottoman period (approximate)
Ancient Macedon: Approximate borders of the kingdom before its major expansion, c. 350 BC Roman province (approximate borders of maximum extent). There was also a later diocese of Macedonia. Byzantine province: situated much further east than previous and later units (approximate borders). Ottoman period: During the first four centuries of the Ottoman period, western scholars thought of Macedonia in terms of Greco-Roman geography. The Ottoman Empire did not have an administrative unit by that name. In the early 19th century, the definition of Macedonia by most scholars, approximately matched the contemporary region, with occasional variations.

Demographic Macedonia
Macedonians c. 5 million	All inhabitants of the region, irrespective of ethnicity
Macedonians c. 1.3 million plus diaspora	An ethnic group, more rarely referred to as Macedonian Slavs or Slavomacedonians (used mostly by Greek authorities to refer to the ethnic Macedonian minority in Greece)
Macedonians c. 2.0 million	Citizens of the Republic of Macedonia irrespective of ethnicity
Macedonians c. 2.6 million plus diaspora	An ethnic Greek regional group, also referred to as Greek Macedonians
Macedonians (unknown population)	A group of antiquity, also referred to as Ancient Macedonians.
Macedonians c. 0.3 million	A Bulgarian regional group, also referred to as Piriners
Macedo-Romanians c. 0.3 million	An alternative name for Aromanians

Linguistic Macedonia
Macedonian	A contemporary Slavic language, also referred to as Slavomacedonian or Macedonian Slavic
Macedonian	A dialect of Modern Greek, typically simply referred to as Greek, since its differences with the Greek spoken in the rest of Greece are only a few words, phrases and some features of the pronunciation
Macedonian	A language or dialect of antiquity, possibly a dialect of ancient Greek
Macedo-Romanian	Another name for the Aromanian language

The name "Macedonia" is used in a number of competing or overlapping meanings to describe geographical, political and historical areas, languages and peoples in a part of south-eastern Europe. It has been a major source of political controversy since the early 20th century. The situation is complicated because different ethnic groups use different terminology for the same entity, or the same terminology for different entities, with different political connotations.

Historically, the region has presented markedly shifting borders across the Balkan peninsula. Geographically, no single definition of its borders or the names of its subdivisions is accepted by all scholars and ethnic groups. Demographically, it is mainly inhabited by four ethnic groups, three of which self-identify as Macedonians: two, a Bulgarian and a Greek one at a regional level, while a third ethnic Macedonian one at a national level. Linguistically, the names and affiliations of languages and dialects spoken in the region are a source of controversy. Politically, the rights to the extent of the use of the name Macedonia and its derivatives has led to a diplomatic dispute between Greece and the Republic of Macedonia. Despite mediation of the United Nations, the dispute is still pending resolution since 1993, but as a result it was admitted under the provisional reference of the "former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia", sometimes abbreviated as FYROM.

The name Macedonia derives from the Greek Μακεδονία (Makedonía), a kingdom (later, region) named after the ancient Macedonians. Their name, Μακεδόνες (Makedónes), is cognate to the Ancient Greek adjective μακεδνός (makednós), meaning "tall, slim". It was traditionally derived from the Indo-European root *mak-, meaning 'long' or 'slender' (attested in Homer, and recorded by Hesychius of Alexandria as a Doric word meaning "large"), or makros ('long, large'), as well as related words in other Indo-European languages. It is commonly explained as having originally meant 'the tall ones' or 'highlanders'. However, according to modern research by Robert S. P. Beekes, both terms are of Pre-Greek substrate origin and cannot be explained in terms of Indo-European morphology.

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