λαός

See also λᾶος, Λάος, and ΛΑΟΣ

Ancient Greek

Etymology

From *lāwós, possibly derived from Proto-Indo-European *leh₂wos (“people (under arms)”) (from Proto-Indo-European *leh₂- (“military action”)).

Alternative forms

• λεώς (Attic)
• ληός (Ionic)

Pronunciation

• (5th BC Attic): IPA: /la͜a.ós/

• (1st BC Egyptian): IPA: /laːós/

• (4th AD Koine): IPA: /laós/

• (10th AD Byzantine): IPA: /laós/

• (15th AD Constantinopolitan): IPA: /laós/

Noun

λαός (genitive λαοῦ) m, second declension; (lāos)

1. people, people assembled, the people of a country
2. the soldiers
3. common people (as opposed to leaders or priests); the subjects of a prince

Inflection

Second declension of λαός, λαοῦ

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	λαός	λαώ	λαοί
Genitive	λαοῦ	λαοῖν	λαῶν
Dative	λαῷ	λαοῖν	λαοῖς
Accusative	λαόν	λαώ	λαούς
Vocative	λαέ	λαώ	λαοί

Descendants

• Germanic:
  • Middle Dutch:
    • Dutch: leek
  • West Germanic:
    • English: lay- (layman)
  • North Germanic:
    • Swedish: lek- (lekman, "layman")
  • Old High German:
    • Middle High German:
      • German: Laie

• Modern Greek: λαϊκός (laikos, "of the people")

• Slavic:
  • Czech: laik
  • Slovak: laik
  • Polish: laik

• Uralic:
  • Hungarian:laikus

• Italic:
  • Latin: laĭcus
    • Italian: laico
    • Old French: lai
      • French: laïque
    • Esperanto: laiko
    • Portuguese laico
    • Spanish: laico

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Greek

Noun

λαός (laós) m,   plural λαοί

1. people, the mass of a community as distinguished from a special class (elite); the commonalty; the populace; the vulgar; the common crowd; the citizens.

Inflection

declension of λαός

	singular (ενικός)	plural (πληθυντικός)
nominative (ονομαστική)	λαός	λαοί
genitive (γενική)	λαού	λαών
accusative (αιτιατική)	λαό	λαούς
vocative (κλητική)	λαέ	λαοί