πλῆθος

See also: πλίθος and πλήθος

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

• πληθῡ́ς (plēthū́s) — Ionic, Epic
• πλᾶθος (plâthos) — Tragic, pseudo-Doric
• πλεῖθος (pleîthos) — Boeotian

Etymology

Probably formed innovatively from πλήθω (plḗthō, “to fill”) +‎ -ος (-os). Compare the relationship between πλῆθος (plêthos) ~ πλήθω (plḗthō) ~ πέπληθα (péplētha) and βριθύς (brithús, “heavy”) ~ βρίθω (bríthō) ~ βέβριθα (bébritha).

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /plɛ̂ː.tʰos/ → /ˈpli.θos/ → /ˈpli.θos/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /plɛ̂ː.tʰos/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈple̝.tʰos/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈpli.θos/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈpli.θos/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈpli.θos/

Noun

πλῆθος • (plêthos) n (genitive πλήθεος or πλήθους); third declension (Attic, Doric, Arcadocypriot)

1. a large number of things, a great number
2. majority, main portion
3. something of large size or magnitude
4. specifically: a large group of people: crowd, multitude, throng, mob
5. populace, people, general public
6. magnitude, size, extent
   1. amount, quantity
      • 460 BCE – 430 BCE, Herodotus, Histories:

        ἐὸν ὀρέων καὶ πλήθεϊ μέγιστον καὶ μεγάθεϊ ὑψηλότατον.

        eòn oréōn kaì plḗtheï mégiston kaì megátheï hupsēlótaton.

        being greatest in number and loftiest in height of mountains

      • 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, 3 70.5:

        πρὸς τὰ ἱερὰ ἱκετῶν καθεζομένων διὰ πλῆθος τῆς ζημίας, ὅπως ταξάμενοι ἀποδῶσιν

        pròs tà hierà hiketôn kathezoménōn dià plêthos tês zēmías, hópōs taxámenoi apodôsin

        [they] sat as suppliants in the temple because of the quantity of the fine, [praying] that they could pay it in installments

   2. (of time) length
      • 431 BCE – 404 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 1.1.3:

        τὰ γὰρ πρὸ αὐτῶν καὶ τὰ ἔτι παλαίτερα σαφῶς μὲν εὑρεῖν διὰ χρόνου πλῆθος ἀδύνατα ἦν

        tà gàr prò autôn kaì tà éti palaítera saphôs mèn heureîn dià khrónou plêthos adúnata ên

        the events before them and the events from a longer time ago were impossible to clearly determine because of the length of time

Usage notes

Several of the senses of this noun mirror those of the adjective πολύς (polús, “much, many”).

Declension

Third declension of τὸ πλῆθος; τοῦ πλήθους (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	τὸ πλῆθος tò plêthos	τὼ πλήθει tṑ plḗthei	τᾰ̀ πλήθη tằ plḗthē
Genitive	τοῦ πλήθους toû plḗthous	τοῖν πληθοῖν toîn plēthoîn	τῶν πληθῶν tôn plēthôn
Dative	τῷ πλήθει tōî plḗthei	τοῖν πληθοῖν toîn plēthoîn	τοῖς πλήθεσῐ / πλήθεσῐν toîs plḗthesĭ(n)
Accusative	τὸ πλῆθος tò plêthos	τὼ πλήθει tṑ plḗthei	τᾰ̀ πλήθη tằ plḗthē
Vocative	πλῆθος plêthos	πλήθει plḗthei	πλήθη plḗthē
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Descendants

• Greek: πλήθος (plíthos)
• ⇒ Translingual: Plethodon

Further reading

• “πλῆθος”, in Liddell & Scott (1940), A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “πλῆθος”, in Liddell & Scott (1889), An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “πλῆθος”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891), A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• πλῆθος 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
• πλῆθος in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• “πλῆθος”, in Slater, William J. (1969), Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
• G4128 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.
  • abundance idem, page 4.
  • accumulation idem, page 7.
  • amount idem, page 28.
  • assortment idem, page 47.
  • batch idem, page 65.
  • bulk idem, page 103.
  • common idem, page 148.
  • commons idem, page 149.
  • copiousness idem, page 173.
  • crowd idem, page 186.
  • degree idem, page 206.
  • dimension idem, page 225.
  • extent idem, page 296.
  • exuberance idem, page 298.
  • fulness idem, page 349.
  • greatness idem, page 372.
  • heap idem, page 391.
  • herd idem, page 397.
  • immensity idem, page 418.
  • largeness idem, page 477.
  • lavishness idem, page 479.
  • length idem, page 485.
  • magnitude idem, page 507.
  • mass idem, page 516.
  • mob idem, page 537.
  • multiplicity idem, page 546.
  • multitude idem, page 546.
  • number idem, page 563.
  • people idem, page 604.
  • plenty idem, page 620.
  • populace idem, page 626.
  • population idem, page 626.
  • press idem, page 637.
  • profuseness idem, page 653.
  • proletariat idem, page 653.
  • quantity idem, page 663.
  • rabble idem, page 667.
  • size idem, page 780.
  • space idem, page 797.
  • store idem, page 820.
  • strength idem, page 824.
  • sum idem, page 837.
  • tale idem, page 854.
  • throng idem, page 870.
  • vastness idem, page 945.
  • vulgar idem, page 958.
  • wealth idem, page 970.
• πλῆθος, in ΛΟΓΕΙΟΝ [Logeion] Dictionaries for Ancient Greek and Latin (in English, French, Spanish, German, Dutch and Chinese), University of Chicago, since 2011