κλέπτης

Forms

κλέπτης (kléptēs) m (genitive κλέπτου, feminine κλέπτῐς); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek κλέπτω (kléptō, “to steal”) + -της (-tēs), an agent noun.^[1][2][3] Beekes takes the verb as a Greek renewal of an older present seen in Latin clepō (“I steal”), from a root Proto-Indo-European *klep- (“to steal”) that may be a western development of a verb for “grab”.^[2]

The Etymologicum Magnum derived it from καλύπτω (kalúptō, “to cover”), since a thief takes things in secret, but Beekes rejects any link between the verbs for “steal” and “cover”.^[4][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

In a simile of the Iliad a mist on the mountains is no friend to the shepherd but better than night to the thief.^[3][5][6]

Semantic evolution

Aeschylus calls Prometheus the thief of fire, and Sophocles uses the word more generally for a cheat or knave.^[5][7] In Attic it is the plain thief, set beside the robber, as in Plato's Republic, or against him, as in the comic poet Myrtilus; the orators and Plato also use it for those who embezzle public money.^[5][7] Aristotle names a logical fallacy “the thief's argument”.^[5]

The Septuagint uses it in the laws on theft, and the New Testament says that the day of the Lord comes “like a thief in the night”, calls Judas a thief and calls the false leaders who came before Jesus thieves and robbers.^[8][6] It was borrowed as Latin clepta.^[9]

Medieval Greek pronounced it κλέφτης (kléftis), with /pt/ becoming /ft/, for a thief, a robber or an abductor.^[10][11] In Modern Greek κλέφτης (kléftis) is a thief, and also one of the klephts, the bands that took to the mountains during Ottoman rule and formed the resistance to Turkish abuses.^[11]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad sets the thief against the shepherd in a simile.^[3][5]
• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus calls Prometheus the thief of fire.^[5][7][12]
• 5th century BC – Sophocles uses it for a cheat or knave, and Myrtilus sets the thief against the robber.^[5][12]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato and the Attic orators use it for an embezzler of public funds.^[7][12]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle names a fallacy “the thief's argument”.^[5][12]
• 1st century AD – The Revelation of John has the Lord coming like a thief.^[6][12]
• 1100–1669 – Vernacular Greek has κλέφτης (kléftis), for a thief, a robber or an abductor.^[10]
• Modern Greek – κλέφτης (kléftis) is a thief, and in history one of the klephts.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A thief.^[5][7][6]
2. A robber of a person.^[7]
3. An embezzler of public money.^[7]
4. A cheat, knave.^[5]
5. (logic) “The thief's argument”, a fallacy.^[5]

Word family

• κλεπτικός (kleptikós)
• κλεπτίστατος (kleptístatos)
• ζωστηροκλέπτης (zōstērokléptēs)
• ποτηριοκλέπτης (potēriokléptēs)
• συγκλέπτης (sunkléptēs)

Related words

• κλοπή (klopḗ)
• Latin clepta

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ a b c Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
4. ^ Gaisford, Thomas, ed. (1848), Etymologicum Magnum, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d Bauer, Walter; Danker, Frederick W., et al. (2000), A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed., Chicago: University of Chicago Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
8. ^ Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
9. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
10. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
11. ^ a b c Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
12. ^ a b c d e Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge