πόλις
Appearance
See also: Appendix:Variations of "polis"
Ancient Greek
[edit]Alternative forms
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From Proto-Hellenic *ptólis, from Proto-Indo-European *tpólHis, from *tpelH- (“fortification, city”). The early form πτόλις (ptólis) shows metathesis tp > pt because Ancient Greek stop clusters always end in a coronal. Cognate with Sanskrit पुर (pura, “fortress, city, dwelling”) and Lithuanian pilis (“stronghold”). Irregular accent on genitive πόλεως (póleōs) is due to a quantitative metathesis from older πόληος (pólēos); genitive plural imitates genitive singular.
Pronunciation
[edit]- (5th BCE Attic) IPA(key): /pó.lis/
- (1st CE Egyptian) IPA(key): /ˈpo.lis/
- (4th CE Koine) IPA(key): /ˈpo.lis/
- (10th CE Byzantine) IPA(key): /ˈpo.lis/
- (15th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA(key): /ˈpo.lis/
Noun
[edit]πόλις • (pólis) f (genitive πόλεως); third declension
- city
- 750 BCE – 650 BCE, Hesiod, The Shield of Heracles 270–272:
- παρὰ δ’ εὔπυργος πόλις ἀνδρῶν,
χρῡ́σειαι δέ μιν εἶχον ὑπερθυρίοις ἀραρυῖαι
ἑπτὰ πύλαι·- parà d’ eúpurgos pólis andrôn,
khrū́seiai dé min eîkhon huperthuríois araruîai
heptà púlai; - Next, there was a city of men with goodly towers; and seven gates of gold, fitted to the lintels, guarded it.
- parà d’ eúpurgos pólis andrôn,
- παρὰ δ’ εὔπυργος πόλις ἀνδρῶν,
- the Athenian citadel
- one's city or country
- (ὁ ἐπὶ τῆς πόλεως (ho epì tês póleōs)) city governor, praetor urbanus
- a whole country, as dependent on and called after its city: city state
- community
- the state
- the right of citizenship
- (πόλιν παίζειν (pólin paízein)) a type of board game
Declension
[edit]Case / # | Singular | Dual | Plural | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nominative | ἡ πόλῐς hē pólis |
τὼ πόλει tṑ pólei |
αἱ πόλεις hai póleis | ||||||||||
Genitive | τῆς πόλεως tês póleōs |
τοῖν πολέοιν toîn poléoin |
τῶν πόλεων tôn póleōn | ||||||||||
Dative | τῇ πόλει têi pólei |
τοῖν πολέοιν toîn poléoin |
ταῖς πόλεσῐ / πόλεσῐν taîs pólesi(n) | ||||||||||
Accusative | τὴν πόλῐν tḕn pólin |
τὼ πόλει tṑ pólei |
τᾱ̀ς πόλεις tā̀s póleis | ||||||||||
Vocative | πόλῐ póli |
πόλει pólei |
πόλεις póleis | ||||||||||
Notes: |
|
Case / # | Singular | Dual | Plural | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nominative | πόλῐς pólis |
πόλῐε pólie |
πόλῐες / πόληες pólies / pólēes | ||||||||||
Genitive | πόλῐος / πόληος pólios / pólēos |
πολῐ́οιῐν políoiin |
πολῐ́ων políōn | ||||||||||
Dative | πόλῐῐ / πόλῑ / πόληῐ̈ / πόλει pólii / pólī / pólēï / pólei |
πολῐ́οιῐν políoiin |
πολῐ́εσσῐ / πολῐ́εσσῐν / πόλεσῐ / πόλεσῐν / πόλῐσῐ / πόλῐσῐν políessi(n) / pólesi(n) / pólisi(n) | ||||||||||
Accusative | πόλῐν pólin |
πόλῐε pólie |
πόλῐᾰς / πόληᾰς / πόλῑς pólias / pólēas / pólīs | ||||||||||
Vocative | πόλῐ póli |
πόλῐε pólie |
πόλῐες / πόληες pólies / pólēes | ||||||||||
Notes: |
|
Synonyms
[edit]- ἄστυ (ástu), πτολίεθρον (ptolíethron)
Derived terms
[edit]- Ἀγησίπολις (Agēsípolis)
- Ἀμφίπολις (Amphípolis)
- Ἀντίπολις (Antípolis)
- Δεκάπολις (Dekápolis)
- Ἡλίου πόλις (Hēlíou pólis)
- Ἱεράπολις (Hierápolis)
- Κωνσταντινούπολις (Kōnstantinoúpolis)
- Λυκόπολις (Lukópolis)
- Μεγαλόπολις (Megalópolis)
- μητρόπολις (mētrópolis)
- Νεάπολις (Neápolis)
- Νικόπολις (Nikópolis)
- Περσέπολις (Persépolis)
- πόλινδε (pólinde)
- πόλισμα (pólisma)
- πολιτεία (politeía)
- πολίτης (polítēs)
- πολιτικός (politikós)
- Πυθόπολις (Puthópolis)
- Σευθόπολις (Seuthópolis)
- Χρυσόπολις (Khrusópolis)
Descendants
[edit]- Greek: πόλη (póli)
- Yevanic: בּוֹלִי (boli)
- → Coptic: ⲡⲟⲗⲓⲥ (polis)
- → English: polis (learned)
- → Latin: -polis
- → English: -polis (learned)
Further reading
[edit]- “πόλις”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “πόλις”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
- “πόλις”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
- πόλις in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
- Bauer, Walter et al. (2001) A Greek–English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, Third edition, Chicago: University of Chicago Press
- πόλις in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
- “πόλις”, in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
- G4172 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
- Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language[1], London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
- capital idem, page 111.
- city idem, page 133.
- commonwealth idem, page 149.
- community idem, page 149.
- country idem, page 178.
- fatherland idem, page 310.
- metropolis idem, page 527.
- municipality idem, page 546.
- nation idem, page 551.
- people idem, page 604.
- republic idem, page 699.
- state idem, page 812.
- town idem, page 884.
- Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), volume II, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 1219
Categories:
- Ancient Greek terms inherited from Proto-Hellenic
- Ancient Greek terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- Ancient Greek terms inherited from Proto-Indo-European
- Ancient Greek terms derived from Proto-Hellenic
- Ancient Greek terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *tpelH-
- Ancient Greek 2-syllable words
- Ancient Greek terms with IPA pronunciation
- Ancient Greek lemmas
- Ancient Greek nouns
- Ancient Greek paroxytone terms
- Ancient Greek feminine nouns
- Ancient Greek third-declension nouns
- Ancient Greek feminine nouns in the third declension
- Ancient Greek terms with quotations
- grc:Cities