πόλις

Pronunciation

• IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /pó.lis/^[1]
• IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /ˈpo.lis/^[1]
• IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /ˈpo.lis/^[1]

Forms

πόλῐς (pólis) f (genitive πόλεως); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *ptólis, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *tpólHis, from *tpelH- (“fortification; city”).^[1] The older form πτόλις (ptólis) (epic, Cypriot, Thessalian, Arcadian)^[2] would show the change of /tp/ to /pt/;^[1] Frisk thought that form had not been convincingly explained.^[3] Mycenaean Greek po-to-ri-jo has been read as a name formed from it.^[2]

It is an old word for a stronghold or refuge, found outside Greek only in the east: Sanskrit पुर् (pū́r, “fortress, city”) and Lithuanian pilìs (“castle”).^[3][1] The genitive πόλεως (póleōs) comes from older πόληος (pólēos) by a shift of vowel length.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Homer it is a town or city; at Troy it also means the citadel, often “the upper city”.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

Already in Homer it is the city as a community;^[4] in the Classical period it is the self-governing city-state with its surrounding land.^[4] Thucydides, Aristophanes and the Attic orators use it for the Acropolis of Athens, and it also means one's native city, a territory, and the body of citizens.^[4]

The Septuagint calls Jerusalem “the holy city”,^[6] and the New Testament uses it for towns and cities of any size.^[7] In medieval Greek “the City” was Constantinople.^[8] The modern form is Modern Greek πόλη (póli).^[8][9] English polis (1894) and -polis come from it.^[10]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it for a city and for the citadel of Troy.^[4][5]
• 5th century BC – Thucydides uses it for the Acropolis of Athens.^[4][11]
• 3rd–2nd century BC – The Septuagint calls Jerusalem the holy city.^[6]
• Medieval – “The City” means Constantinople.^[8]
• 1894 – English borrows polis for the Greek city-state.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A citadel; at Athens, the Acropolis.^[4][12]
2. A city, town.^[4][12]
3. The city as a political community, a city-state, state.^[4]
4. One's native city.^[4]
5. A land or territory.^[4]
6. The citizens, the community.^[4]

Word family

• μητρόπολις (mētrópolis)
• πολιήτης (poliḗtēs)
• πόλινδε (pólinde)
• πόλισμα (polísma)
• πολισσόος (polissóos)
• πολιτεία (polīteíā)
• πολίτης (polī́tēs)
• πολιτικά (polītiká)
• πολιτική (polītikḗ)
• πολιτικόν (polītikón)
• πολιτικός (polītikós)

Related words

• English polis

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b 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 Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
5. ^ a b Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
6. ^ a b Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
7. ^ 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. ^ Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
12. ^ a b Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press