The state's name derives from the Greek word  (''Makedonía''), a kingdom (later, region) named after the ancient Macedonians. Their name,  (''Makedónes''), ultimately derives from the ancient Greek adjective μακεδνός (''makednós''), meaning 'tall' or 'taper', which shares the same root as the adjective  (''makrós'', 'long, tall, high') in ancient Greek. The name is believed to have originally meant either 'highlanders' or 'the tall ones', possibly descriptive of the people. According to linguist Robert S. P. Beekes, both terms are of pre-Greek substrate origin and cannot be explained in terms of Indo-European morphology. However, according to linguist Filip De Decker, Beekes's arguments are insufficient.