And as extra input, following Herodotus' statements"
The 'Hellenic' nation was born from the Pelasgians who were inhabiting Greece according to him.
The Dorians 'broke' from the Pelasgians and formed a Greek identity. Later on, the Ionians and the Aeolians broke from the Pelasgians and joined the Dorians in the new Greek identity.
His statement was that the Athenians never moved from their area in Attica, whilst the others were more nomadic (polyplanetic as he says, which means poly- = a lot -planetic = wandering). So a group of people that was scattered around is the best guess for what he meant. But he elaborates and says they first lived under Deucalion in Phthiotis, under Doros (son of Hellene) at the foot of Mount Ossa and Mount Olympus which carried the name Estiaotida and then they moved to Pindos under the name Makednon. And then they moved to the Peloponnese.
That's pretty much the Dorians according to Herodotus. No timeline given of course but at least we have an order and Macedon is of course also considered part of this. And that the Pelasgians spoke a language that was different to the Greek but later on got assimilated into the Attic mostly dialect.
Herodotus also says that some 'barbarians' were part of the Hellenic world, meaning that some other unidentified indigenous peoples that did not relate with the Pelasgians became part of the Hellenic 'nation'.
Book 1, chapter 56
τούτοισι ἐλθοῦσι τοῖσι ἔπεσι ὁ Κροῖσος πολλόν τι μάλιστα πάντων ἥσθη,
ἐλπίζων ἡμίονον οὐδαμὰ ἀντ᾽ ἀνδρὸςβασιλεύσειν Μήδων,
οὐδ᾽ ὦν αὐτὸς οὐδὲ οἱ ἐξ αὐτοῦ παύσεσθαι κοτὲ τῆς ἀρχῆς.
μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ἐφρόντιζεἱστορέων τοὺς ἂν Ἑλλήνων δυνατωτάτους ἐόντας προσκτήσαιτο φίλους,
[2
] ἱστορέων δὲ εὕρισκεΛακεδαιμονίους καὶ Ἀθηναίους προέχοντας τοὺς μὲν τοῦ Δωρικοῦ γένεος τοὺς δὲ τοῦ Ἰωνικοῦ.
ταῦτα γὰρ ἦν τὰπροκεκριμένα,
ἐόντα τὸ ἀρχαῖον τὸ μὲν Πελασγικὸν τὸ δὲ Ἑλληνικὸν ἔθνος.
καὶ τὸ μὲν οὐδαμῇ κω ἐξεχώρησε,
τὸ δὲ πολυπλάνητον κάρτα.
[3
] ἐπὶ μὲν γὰρ Δευκαλίωνος βασιλέος οἴκεε γῆν τὴν Φθιῶτιν,
ἐπὶ δὲ Δώρου τοῦἝλληνος τὴν ὑπὸ τὴν Ὄσσαν τε καὶ τὸν Ὄλυμπον χώρην,
καλεομένην δὲ Ἱστιαιῶτιν:
ἐκ δὲ τῆς Ἱστιαιώτιδος ὡςἐξανέστη ὑπὸ Καδμείων,
οἴκεε ἐν Πίνδῳ Μακεδνὸν καλεόμενον:
ἐνθεῦτεν δὲ αὖτις ἐς τὴν Δρυοπίδα μετέβη καὶἐκ τῆς Δρυοπίδος οὕτω ἐς Πελοπόννησον ἐλθὸν Δωρικὸν ἐκλήθη.
Translation:
When he heard these verses, Croesus was pleased with them above all, for he thought that a mule would never be king of the Medes instead of a man, and therefore that he and his posterity would never lose his empire. Then he sought very carefully to discover who the mightiest of the Greeks were, whom he should make his friends. [2] He found by inquiry that the chief peoples were the Lacedaemonians among those of Doric, and the Athenians among those of Ionic stock. These races, Ionian and Dorian, were the foremost in ancient time, the first a Pelasgian and the second a Hellenic people. The Pelasgian race has never yet left its home; the Hellenic has wandered often and far. [3] For in the days of king Deucalion
1 it inhabited the land of
Phthia, then the country called Histiaean, under Ossa and
Olympus, in the time of Dorus son of Hellen; driven from this Histiaean country by the Cadmeans, it settled about Pindus in the territory called Macedonian; from there again it migrated to Dryopia, and at last came from Dryopia into the
Peloponnese, where it took the name of Dorian.
2
Here 'ethnos' becomes 'people'.
If you fast forward a few centuries, the Athenians would consider anyone else of a lesser stock because they were not "pure Pelasgians" for at least until Solon and Pericles were around. And Herodotus pretty much suggests that Macedonians have always been 'Hellenic' whereas Athenians were not but got integrated later. And it's funny because the Athenian history is what people consider Hellenic/Greek and use as a focal point.
I've read ancient Greek, modern Greek and English versions of the books and specific chapters. The English version is typically watered down and leaves aside many details that change the meaning in many cases, or leaves things in doubt when Herodotus states them pretty clearly.
For example, book 8, chapter 43
ἐστρατεύοντο δὲ οἵδε:
ἐκ μὲν Πελοποννήσου Λακεδαιμόνιοι ἑκκαίδεκα νέας παρεχόμενοι,
Κορίνθιοι δὲ τὸ αὐτὸπλήρωμα παρεχόμενοι καὶ ἐπ᾽ Ἀρτεμισίῳ:
Σικυώνιοι δὲ πεντεκαίδεκα παρείχοντο νέας,
Ἐπιδαύριοι δὲ δέκα,
Τροιζήνιοι δὲ πέντε,
Ἑρμιονέες δὲ τρεῖς,
ἐόντες οὗτοι πλὴν Ἑρμιονέων Δωρικόν τε καὶ Μακεδνὸν ἔθνος,
ἐξἘρινεοῦ τε καὶ Πίνδου καὶ τῆς Δρυοπίδος ὕστατα ὁρμηθέντες.
οἱ δὲ Ἑρμιονέες εἰσὶ Δρύοπες,
ὑπὸ Ἡρακλέος τεκαὶ Μηλιέων ἐκ τῆς νῦν Δωρίδος καλεομένης χώρης ἐξαναστάντες.
Now just look at the English translation:
43.
The following took part in the war: from the Peloponnese, the Lacedaemonians provided sixteen ships; the Corinthians the same number as at Artemisium; the Sicyonians furnished fifteen ships, the Epidaurians ten, the Troezenians five, the Hermioneans three. All of these except the Hermioneans are Dorian and Macedonian and had last come from Erineus and Pindus and the Dryopian region. The Hermioneans are Dryopians, driven out of the country now called Doris by Herakles and the Malians.
The term 'ethnos' is ignored here and it loses context.
But going back to book 1, chapter 57
εἰ τοίνυν ἦν καὶ πᾶν τοιοῦτο τὸ Πελασγικόν,
τὸ Ἀττικὸν ἔθνος ἐὸν Πελασγικὸνἅμα τῇ μεταβολῇ τῇ ἐς Ἕλληνας καὶ τὴν γλῶσσαν μετέμαθε.
If, then, all the Pelasgian stock spoke so, then the Attic nation, being of Pelasgian blood, must have changed its language too at the time when it became part of the Hellenes.
Here the Attic 'ethnos' becomes Attic 'nation' in the very same translation. But the 'Makednon' ethnos loses its properties in the translation. The actual translation is: Every one of these are Dorian belonging to the Makednon 'ethnos' except the Herminoneans, who are Dryopians.
P.S: You can see that the translations come from the Tufts University Perseus as every word is hyperlinked.
