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
- A citadel; at Athens, the Acropolis.[4][12]
- A city, town.[4][12]
- The city as a political community, a city-state, state.[4]
- One's native city.[4]
- A land or territory.[4]
- 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
- ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ 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
- ^ a b Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
- ^ 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
- ^ a b Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
- ^ a b Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
- ^ 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
- ^ a b c Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
- ^ Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
- ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
- ^ Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
- ^ a b Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press