πάροικος

Forms

πᾰ́ροικος (pároikos) m or f (neuter πᾰ́ροικον); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is a compound from Ancient Greek παρά (pará, “beside”) + οἶκος (oîkos, “house, dwelling”).^[1][2] It is formed like ἔνοικος (énoikos), κάτοικος (kátoikos) and μέτοικος (métoikos).^[2] The noun οἶκος (oîkos) goes back to Proto-Indo-European *wóyḱos (“settlement”).^[1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first record is a line of Sappho: ὁ πλοῦτος ἄνευ ἀρέτας οὐκ ἀσίνης πάροικος, “wealth without virtue is no harmless neighbour”.^[4][2]

Semantic evolution

In classical Greek it means “living near, neighbouring”, with a genitive or dative, and as a noun “a neighbour”: Herodotus speaks of a war with neighbours, and Aristotle cites “an Attic neighbour” as a proverb for a restless one.^[4][5]

In the Septuagint it translates Hebrew Biblical Hebrew גֵּר (gēr) and תּוֹשָׁב (tōšāḇ), the foreigner living among another people, as Israel in Egypt or a stranger in Israel.^[5][6] Hellenistic inscriptions from Cos and Pergamon use it as a synonym of μέτοικος (métoikos), a resident alien.^[4] The New Testament takes it over from Genesis (Acts) and applies it figuratively to Christians, strangers on earth whose real home is in heaven (Ephesians, 1 Peter).^[7][5] The Code of Justinian uses it for Latin colonus, a tenant farmer.^[4]

In the medieval vernacular a πάροικος was a settler, a serf, and the dependent peasant of Byzantium who farmed land under an agreement with its owner.^[8] Modern Greek πάροικος (pároikos) is a learned word in the Hellenistic sense, someone living in a foreign country.^[9][2]

Timeline

• 7th–6th century BC – Sappho calls wealth without virtue no harmless neighbour.^[4][2]
• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it, with a genitive, of places lying near others.^[4][10]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus speaks of a war with neighbours.^[4]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle cites “an Attic neighbour” as a proverb for a restless one.^[4]
• 3rd century BC – An inscription from Cos uses it for a resident alien.^[4]
• 1100–1669 – Vernacular Greek uses it for a settler, a serf and a dependent peasant.^[8]
• Modern Greek – πάροικος (pároikos) is a learned word for someone living abroad.^[9][2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Dwelling near, neighbouring, with a genitive or dative.^[4][5]
2. (Koine) Foreign, alien.^[4][6][7]

Noun

1. A neighbour.^[4][5]
2. (Koine) A sojourner, a stranger living in a foreign land; a resident alien.^[4][6][7]
3. (New Testament) Figuratively, of Christians, strangers on earth.^[7][5]
4. (Byzantine) A tenant farmer, a dependent peasant.^[4][8]

Word family

• παροικέω (paroikéō)
• παροικία (paroikíā)
• παροικίζω (paroikízō)
• παροικοδομέω (paroikodoméō)

Related words

• οἶκος (oîkos)
• μέτοικος (métoikos)
• ἔνοικος (énoikos)
• κάτοικος (kátoikos)

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f Abbott-Smith, G. (1922), A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark
6. ^ a b c Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
7. ^ 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
8. ^ a b c Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
9. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
10. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux