πόλις

See also: Appendix:Variations of "polis"

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

• πτόλῐς (ptólis) — Epic

Etymology

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

 

• IPA^(key): /pó.lis/ → /ˈpo.lis/ → /ˈpo.lis/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /pó.lis/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈpo.lis/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈpo.lis/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈpo.lis/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈpo.lis/

Noun

πόλις • (pólis) f (genitive πόλεως); third declension

1. 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.

   1. the Athenian citadel
      • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 6.88
      • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 20.52
      • 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 2.15
      • 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 5.23.47
      • 425 BCE, Aristophanes, Lysistrata 245
      • 425 BCE, Aristophanes, Lysistrata 758
      • 425 BCE, Aristophanes, Lysistrata 288
      • 424 BCE, Aristophanes, The Knights 1093
      • 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Anabasis 7.1.27
      • 46 CE – 120 CE, Plutarch, Pelopidas 18
      • 64 BCE – 24 CE, Strabo, Geography 8.6.8
      • 300 BCE – 200 BCE, Septuagint, Nehemiah 11.1
   2. one's city or country
      • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 1.170
   3. (ὁ ἐπὶ τῆς πόλεως (ho epì tês póleōs)) city governor, praetor urbanus
      • 200 BCE – 118 BCE, Polybius, The Histories 5.39.3
2. a whole country, as dependent on and called after its city: city state
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 6.177
   • 406 BCE, Sophocles, Oedipus at Colonus 1533
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 14.230
   • 522 BCE – 443 BCE, Pindar, Isthmian Ode 5.48
   • 458 BCE, Aeschylus, The Eumenides 77
   • 413 BCE, Euripides, Ion 294
   • 421 BCE, Aristophanes, Peace 251
   • 445 BCE – 380 BCE, Lysias, Against Andocides 6
3. community
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 17.144
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 11.14
   • 429 BCE, Sophocles, Oedipus the King 179
   1. the state
      • 750 BCE – 650 BCE, Hesiod, Works and Days 240
      • 522 BCE – 443 BCE, Pindar, Pythian Ode 2.88
      • 429 BCE, Sophocles, Oedipus the King 22
      • 408 BCE, Euripides, The Phoenician Women 947
      • 442 BCE, Sophocles, Antigone 738
      • 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Cyropaedia 8.2.28
      • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Politics 1276A.23
      • 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Protagoras 319A
      • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Politics 1280B.40
      • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Demosthenes, Against Stephanus 1 66
   2. the right of citizenship
      • 405 BCE, Aristophanes, The Frogs 718
      • 361 BCE, Demosthenes, Against Midias 106
4. (πόλιν παίζειν (pólin paízein)) a type of board game
   • 519 BCE – 422 BCE, Cratinus, Collected Works 56
   • 380 BCE, Plato, The Republic 422E

Declension

Third declension of ἡ πόλῐς; τῆς πόλεως (Attic)

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:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Third declension of πόλῐς; πόλῐος (Epic)

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:	Dialects other than Attic are not well attested. Some forms may be based on conjecture. Use with caution.

Synonyms

• ἄστυ (ástu), πτολίεθρον (ptolíethron)

Derived terms

• 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

• Greek: πόλη (póli)
• Yevanic: בּוֹלִי (boli)
• → Coptic: ⲡⲟⲗⲓⲥ (polis)
• → English: polis (learned)
• → Latin: -polis
  • → English: -polis (learned)

Further reading

• “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