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λίθος

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Etymology and origin of the Ancient Greek word λίθος

Confidence
Unknown
First attested
Homer, Iliad

Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /lí.tʰos/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /ˈli.θos/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /ˈli.θos/[1]

Forms

λῐ́θος (líthos) m or f (genitive λῐ́θου); second declension[1]

Etymology

The origin is unknown.[2][3] Comparisons have been made with λεῖος (leîos, “smooth”), λιτός (lītós, “simple, plain”), Latin laedō (“to strike, hurt”) and Lithuanian slidùs (“slippery”),[1] but Babiniotis finds none of them convincing.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Homer it is a stone of any size: the stones that warriors throw, a stone used as a seat, a block set in the ground.[5][6] The Iliad says of warriors ἐπεὶ οὔ σφι λίθος χρὼς οὐδὲ σίδηρος, “for their skin is not stone nor iron”.[6]

Semantic evolution

It is usually masculine.[6] Homer has it twice as a feminine, with no difference of meaning, and later the feminine is used mostly for particular kinds of stone, such as the magnet, the “Magnesian stone” in Euripides, and for a gravestone.[6][5] At Athens ὁ λίθος was the name of several stone blocks: the speaker's platform on the Pnyx, the stone in the agora from which heralds spoke, and the altar at which archons, arbitrators and witnesses swore their oaths.[6][7] It also meant a piece in a board game.[6][7]

Today Modern Greek λίθος (líthos) is used as a learned word for “stone” (πέτρα); Triantafyllidis notes that the masculine for “stone” and the feminine for “precious stone” are confused, and the feminine survives in λυδία λίθος, the touchstone.[8] The English elements -lith and -lite come from it, through French and New Latin.[9]

Timeline

  • Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for stones thrown in battle and stones used as seats.[5][6]
  • Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod uses it in the Theogony and the Works and Days.[10][11]
  • 7th–6th century BC – Alcaeus uses it for a piece in a board game.[6][11]
  • 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes calls the speaker's platform on the Pnyx “the stone”.[6][11]
  • 4th century BC – Demosthenes and Aristotle mention the oath-stone in the Athenian agora.[6][7]
  • Modern Greek – Modern Greek λίθος (líthos) survives as a learned word.[8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A stone, rock or boulder, especially one thrown as a missile.[6][7]
  2. Stone as a material, as opposed to wood or flesh;[6] λίθους ποιεῖν, to turn into stone.[6]
  3. (feminine) A particular kind of stone, such as the magnet; a gravestone.[6]
  4. (Athens) A stone platform: the speaker's platform of the Pnyx, the auctioneer's or herald's stone, the oath-stone in the agora.[6][7]
  5. A piece in a board game.[6][7]

Word family

  • λίθινος (líthinos)
  • λιθουργός (lithourgós)
  • λιθάργυρος (lithárguros)
  • μονόλιθος (monólithos)
  • English -lith
  • English -lite

Usage notes

The proverb πάντα λίθον κινεῖν, “to move every stone”, meaning to leave nothing untried, is recorded by Zenobius;[6] LSJ takes it from the board game.[6] It survives in Modern Greek as κινώ πάντα λίθον.[8]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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. ^ Chantraine, Pierre (2009), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque: histoire des mots, new ed. with a supplement (Chroniques d'étymologie grecque 1–10), Paris: Klincksieck
  4. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
  5. ^ a b c Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  8. ^ a b c Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
  9. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  10. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
  11. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
Cite this entry

“Λίθος.” Etymologically, 24 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/grc/%CE%BB%CE%AF%CE%B8%CE%BF%CF%82. Accessed 24 Oct. 2026.

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