λῃστής
Ancient Greek
Alternative forms
Etymology
From ληΐς (lēḯs), Epic form of λεία (leía, “plunder, spoils”)
Pronunciation
- (5th BCE Attic) IPA(key): /lɛːi̯s.tɛ̌ːs/
- (1st CE Egyptian) IPA(key): /le̝sˈte̝s/
- (4th CE Koine) IPA(key): /lisˈtis/
- (10th CE Byzantine) IPA(key): /lisˈtis/
- (15th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA(key): /lisˈtis/
Noun
λῃστής • (lēistḗs) m (genitive λῃστοῦ); first declension (Attic) [proposed correction per Strong's Greek: “Strong's Greek: 3027. λῃστής (léstés)” instead of lēistḗs. Other Greek dictionaries give léstés or the equivalent lēstēs.]
- robber, bandit
- 429 BCE, Sophocles, Oedipus the King 122:
- (Κρέων) λῃστὰς ἔφασκε συντυχόντας οὐ μιᾷ ῥώμῃ κτανεῖν νιν, ἀλλὰ σὺν πλήθει χερῶν.
(Οἰδίπους) πῶς οὖν ὁ λῃστής, εἴ τι μὴ ξὺν ἀργύρῳ ἐπράσσετ᾽ ἐνθένδ᾽, ἐς τόδ᾽ ἂν τόλμης ἔβη;- Translation by Sir Richard Jebb. 1887. @perseus
- (Creon) He said that robbers fell upon them, not one man alone, but with a great force.
(Oedipus) How then, unless some intrigue had been worked with bribes from here in Thebes, would the robbers have been so bold?
- (Creon) He said that robbers fell upon them, not one man alone, but with a great force.
- Translation by Sir Richard Jebb. 1887. @perseus
- (Κρέων) λῃστὰς ἔφασκε συντυχόντας οὐ μιᾷ ῥώμῃ κτανεῖν νιν, ἀλλὰ σὺν πλήθει χερῶν.
- 429 BCE, Sophocles, Oedipus the King 535:
- οὗτος σύ, πῶς δεῦρ᾽ ἦλθες; ἦ τοσόνδ᾽ ἔχεις
τόλμης πρόσωπον ὥστε τὰς ἐμὰς στέγας
ἵκου, φονεὺς ὢν τοῦδε τἀνδρὸς ἐμφανῶς
λῃστής τ᾽ ἐναργὴς τῆς ἐμῆς τυραννίδος;- Translation by Sir Richard Jebb. 1887. @perseus
- You, how did you get here? Are you so
boldfaced that you have come to my house,
you who are manifestly the murderer of its master,
the palpable thief of its crown?
- You, how did you get here? Are you so
- Translation by Sir Richard Jebb. 1887. @perseus
- οὗτος σύ, πῶς δεῦρ᾽ ἦλθες; ἦ τοσόνδ᾽ ἔχεις
- pirate, buccaneer
- revolutionary, insurrectionist, guerrilla
- (figuratively)
- σωφροσύνας ὑβριστά, φρενοκλόπε, λῃστὰ λογισμοῦ, πτανὸν πῦρ, ψυχᾶς τραῦμ' ἀόρατον, Ἔρως
- sōphrosúnas hubristá, phrenoklópe, lēistà logismoû, ptanòn pûr, psukhâs traûm' aóraton, Érōs
- [you,] insolent of prudence, robber of the mind, pirate of reason, flying fire, invisible trauma of the soul, [you,] Eros
APl. (Anthology of Planudes).4.198. [Maecius/Maccius]: Μελέαγρος [Meleager]
Inflection
Case / # | Singular | Dual | Plural | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nominative | ὁ λῃστής ho lēistḗs |
τὼ λῃστᾱ́ tṑ lēistā́ |
οἱ λῃσταί hoi lēistaí | ||||||||||
Genitive | τοῦ λῃστοῦ toû lēistoû |
τοῖν λῃσταῖν toîn lēistaîn |
τῶν λῃστῶν tôn lēistôn | ||||||||||
Dative | τῷ λῃστῇ tôi lēistêi |
τοῖν λῃσταῖν toîn lēistaîn |
τοῖς λῃσταῖς toîs lēistaîs | ||||||||||
Accusative | τὸν λῃστήν tòn lēistḗn |
τὼ λῃστᾱ́ tṑ lēistā́ |
τοὺς λῃστᾱ́ς toùs lēistā́s | ||||||||||
Vocative | λῃστᾰ́ lēistá |
λῃστᾱ́ lēistā́ |
λῃσταί lēistaí | ||||||||||
Notes: |
|
Synonyms
- (robber): κλέπτης m (kléptēs, “thief, cheat”), κλώψ m (klṓps, “thief”)
- (pirate): πειρατής (peiratḗs)
Derived terms
- ἀρχιλῃστής (arkhilēistḗs)
- λῃστάρχης (lēistárkhēs)
- λῄσταρχος (lḗistarkhos)
- λῃστεία (lēisteía)
- λῃστεύω (lēisteúō)
- λῃστήρ (lēistḗr)
- λῃστήριον (lēistḗrion)
- λῃστικός (lēistikós)
- λῃστοδῐώκτης (lēistodiṓktēs)
- λῃστοκτόνος (lēistoktónos)
- λῃστοπιαστής (lēistopiastḗs)
- λῃστοσαλπιγκτής (lēistosalpinktḗs)
- λῃστρικός (lēistrikós)
- λῃστρίς (lēistrís)
- συλλῃστεύω (sullēisteúō)
- συλλῃστής (sullēistḗs)
- φρενολῃστής (phrenolēistḗs)
- ψευδολῃστής (pseudolēistḗs)
Related terms
Descendants
Further reading
- “λῃστής”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “λῃστής”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
- λῃστής 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
- G3027 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
- λῃστής in Trapp, Erich, et al. (1994–2007) Lexikon zur byzantinischen Gräzität besonders des 9.-12. Jahrhunderts [the Lexicon of Byzantine Hellenism, Particularly the 9th–12th Centuries], Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften
- Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language[1], London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
- bandit idem, page 61.
- brigand idem, page 98.
- buccaneer idem, page 102.
- corsair idem, page 176.
- depredator idem, page 213.
- desperado idem, page 216.
- filibuster idem, page 319.
- freebooter idem, page 344.
- marauder idem, page 513.
- pirate idem, page 614.
- plunderer idem, page 622.
- privateer idem, page 642.
- ravaged idem, page 674.
- ravisher idem, page 674.
- robber idem, page 719.
- spoiler idem, page 803.
Categories:
- Ancient Greek 2-syllable words
- Ancient Greek terms with IPA pronunciation
- Ancient Greek lemmas
- Ancient Greek nouns
- Ancient Greek oxytone terms
- Ancient Greek masculine nouns
- Ancient Greek first-declension nouns
- Ancient Greek masculine nouns in the first declension
- Attic Greek
- Ancient Greek terms with quotations
- Ancient Greek terms with usage examples