δῆμος Ancient Greek · revision 3260

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=Mycenaean (Linear B)|origins=ine-pro *déh₂mos}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /dɛ̂ː.mos/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /ˈði.mos/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /ˈði.mos/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''δῆμος''' (dêmos) ''m'' (genitive δήμου); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+ [[gmy|da-mo]].^(DGE)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|grk-pro|*dā́mos]], from [[ine-pro|*déh₂mos]], originally “part, division”.^(Wiktionary)^(Beekes 2010) It is probably a derivative in ⟨-mo-⟩ of the root [[ine-pro|*deh₂-|t=to divide]], seen in [[δαίομαι|tr=daíomai|t=to divide]].^(Beekes 2010)^(Frisk 1960)^(DGE) The Doric form [[δᾶμος|tr=dâmos]] keeps the old ''ā''.^(Beekes 2010)^(LSJ 1940)

+

+ Its closest match is Celtic: [[sga|dám|t=following, band of people]], and Welsh and Cornish words for “client” or “son-in-law”; since these are feminine ''ā''-stems, the Indo-European word may first have been feminine.^(Beekes 2010)^(Frisk 1960)

+

+ Ptolemy of Ascalon derived it from [[δέμας|tr=démas|t=body]], as if the people were a body, or from [[δασμός|tr=dasmós|t=division]], and Herodian from [[δέω|tr=déō|t=to bind]], the crowd bound together.^(Etygram)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The Mycenaean tablets have it as ''da-mo''.^(DGE)^(Wiktionary) In Homer it is a district or land, as in “rich land” of the Boeotians or of Lycia, and also the people who live there.^(LSJ 1940)^(Cunliffe 1924) Ithaca and Crete are each a ''dēmos''.^(LSJ 1940)^(Cunliffe 1924)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Since the common people lived in the country and the chiefs in the town, it came to mean the commons as opposed to the king and the nobles; the ''Iliad'' already sets “a man of the people” against the leaders.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021) In Athens after Cleisthenes it was also the deme, the local community into which the tribes were divided.^(CGL 2021)^(DGE)

+

+ In Classical Greek it was the whole citizen body, the people as sovereign and as gathered in assembly, and so popular government, democracy, as opposed to the few; decrees began “it seemed good to the council and the people”.^(CGL 2021)^(LSJ 1940)^(BDAG 2000) Xenophon uses it for the rank and file of an army.^(CGL 2021) The New Testament uses it for a crowd and for the assembly of a Hellenistic city.^(BDAG 2000)

+

+ Modern Greek [[m|el|δήμος|tr=dímos]] is a learned form for the municipality, its citizens, its services and the town hall.^(Triantafyllidis 1998)^(Etygram) English ''deme'' comes from it.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Mycenaean period – The tablets have ''da-mo''.^(DGE)^(Wiktionary)

+ * Homer – It means a land and its people, and the common people.^(LSJ 1940)^(Cunliffe 1924)

+ * 5th century BC – Herodotus describes Cleisthenes' distribution of the demes among the tribes.^(DGE)

+ * 5th century BC – Thucydides and Herodotus use it for the popular party and for democracy.^(CGL 2021)^(LSJ 1940)

+ * 1st century AD – Acts uses it for the assembly of a Greek city.^(BDAG 2000)

+ * 1st century AD – Ptolemy of Ascalon derives it from ''démas'' “body”.^(Etygram)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A district, country, land.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+ # A [[m|en|deme]], a local district of Attica and other states.^(CGL 2021)^(DGE)

+ # The people, inhabitants of a land.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+ # The common people, the [[m|en|commons]], as opposed to kings and nobles.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+ # The citizen body; the popular assembly.^(CGL 2021)^(BDAG 2000)

+ # Popular government, [[m|en|democracy]].^(CGL 2021)^(LSJ 1940)

+ # The rank and file of an army.^(CGL 2021)^(LSJ 1940)

+ # ''(New Testament)'' A crowd.^(BDAG 2000)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[ἀπόδημος|tr=apódēmos]]

+ * [[δημαγωγός|tr=dēmagōgós]]

+ * [[δήμαρχος|tr=dḗmarkhos]]

+ * [[δημεύω|tr=dēmeúō]]

+ * [[δημογέρων|tr=dēmogérōn]]

+ * [[δημοκοπέω|tr=dēmokopéō]]

+ * [[δημοκρατέομαι|tr=dēmokratéomai]]

+ * [[δημοκρατία|tr=dēmokratía]]

+ * [[δημόσιος|tr=dēmósios]]

+ * [[δημότης|tr=dēmótēs]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[δημίδιον|tr=dēmídion]]

+ * [[δημίζω|tr=dēmízō]]

+ * [[δήμιος|tr=dḗmios]]

+ * [[δημόθεν|tr=dēmóthen]]

+ * [[δημόομαι|tr=dēmóomai]]

+ * [[δημότερος|tr=dēmóteros]]

+ * [[δημοτεύομαι|tr=dēmoteúomai]]

+ * [[δαίομαι|tr=daíomai]]

+ * [[en|deme]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Ammonius distinguishes ''δῆμος'', the people of a city, from the oxytone ''δημός'' “fat”, a different word of unknown origin.^(Ammonius)^(Beekes 2010)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}