πόλις

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

• πτόλις (Epic)

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *pelH- (“stronghold, fortification”). Cognate with Sanskrit पुर (pura, “city”) and Lithuanian pilis. Irregular accent on genitive πόλεως due to quantitative metathesis from older πόληος; genitive plural imitates genitive singular.

Pronunciation

• (5th BC Attic): IPA: /pólis/

• (1st BC Egyptian): IPA: /pólis/

• (4th AD Koine): IPA: /pólis/

• (10th AD Byzantine): IPA: /pólis/

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

Noun

πόλις (genitive πόλεως) f, third declension; (polis)

1. city.

   Οὐκ ἔλαϐον πόλιν ἀλλὰ γὰρ ἐλπὶς ἔφη κακά.

Inflection

Third declension of πόλῐς, πόλεως

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ἡ πόλῐς	τὼ πόλει	αἱ πόλεις
Genitive	τῆς πόλεως	τοῖν πολέοιν	τῶν πόλεων
Dative	τῇ πόλει	τοῖν πολέοιν	ταῖς πόλεσῐ(ν)
Accusative	τὴν πόλῐν	τὼ πόλει	τὰς πόλεις
Vocative	πόλῐ	πόλει	πόλεις

Third declension of πόλῐς, πόλιος (Ionic, Epic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ἡ πόλῐς	τὼ πόλιε	αἱ πόλιες
Genitive	τῆς πόλιος	τοῖν πολίοιν	τῶν πολίων
Dative	τῇ πόλῑ, πόλει	τοῖν πολίοιν	ταῖς πόλῐσῐ(ν), πολίεσῐ(ν), πόλεσῐ(ν)
Accusative	τὴν πόλῐν	τὼ πόλιε	τὰς πόλῑς, πόλιᾰς
Vocative	πόλῐ	πόλιε	πόλιες

Descendants

• Greek: πόλη (póli)

References

• LSJ
• BDAG
• Strong’s concordance number: G4172
• Greek etymological dictionary (Beekes)