The country's name derives from the Greek ?a?ed???

a (Makedona),[13][14] a kingdom
(later, region) named after the ancient Macedonians. Their name, ?a?ed??e? (Mak
ednes), derives ultimately from the ancient Greek adjective a?ed??? (makedns), mean
ing "tall, taper",[15] which shares the same root as the noun ????? (mkros), meani
ng "length" in both ancient and modern Greek.[16] The name is originally believe
d to have meant either "highlanders" or "the tall ones", possibly descriptive of
the people.[14][17][18] However, according to modern research by Robert S. P. B
eekes, both terms are of Pre-Greek substrate origin and cannot be explained in t
erms of Indo-European morphology.
In antiquity, most of what is now the Republic of Macedonia was the kingdom of P
aeonia,[20] inhabited by the Paeonians, a Thracian people,[21] whilst the northw
est was inhabited by the Dardani and the southwest by tribes known historically
as the Enchelae, Pelagones and Lyncestae; the latter two are generally regarded
as Molossian tribes of the northwestern Greek group, whilst the former two are c
onsidered Illyrian.