ἰδιώτης

See also: ιδιώτης

Ancient Greek

Etymology

From ἴδιος (ídios, “one's own, private”) +‎ -ώτης (-ṓtēs).

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /i.di.ɔ̌ː.tɛːs/ → /i.ðiˈo.tis/ → /i.ðiˈo.tis/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /i.di.ɔ̌ː.tɛːs/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /i.diˈo.te̝s/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /i.ðiˈo.tis/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /i.ðiˈo.tis/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /i.ðiˈo.tis/

Noun

ῐ̓δῐώτης • (idiṓtēs) m (genitive ῐ̓δῐώτου); first declension (Attic, Ionic, Koine)

1. a private person, one not engaged in public affairs
   1. a private soldier, as opposed to a general
2. (adjectival use) private, homely
3. commoner, plebeian
4. uneducated person, layman, amateur
5. one who is not in the know, an outsider
6. an ignorant or illiterate person
7. one who is awkward, clumsy
8. (in the plural) one's countrymen

Inflection

First declension of ὁ ῐ̓δῐώτης; τοῦ ῐ̓δῐώτου (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ ῐ̓δῐώτης ho idiṓtēs	τὼ ῐ̓δῐώτᾱ tṑ idiṓtā	οἱ ῐ̓δῐῶται hoi idiôtai
Genitive	τοῦ ῐ̓δῐώτου toû idiṓtou	τοῖν ῐ̓δῐώταιν toîn idiṓtain	τῶν ῐ̓δῐωτῶν tôn idiōtôn
Dative	τῷ ῐ̓δῐώτῃ tôi idiṓtēi	τοῖν ῐ̓δῐώταιν toîn idiṓtain	τοῖς ῐ̓δῐώταις toîs idiṓtais
Accusative	τὸν ῐ̓δῐώτην tòn idiṓtēn	τὼ ῐ̓δῐώτᾱ tṑ idiṓtā	τοὺς ῐ̓δῐώτᾱς toùs idiṓtās
Vocative	ῐ̓δῐῶτᾰ idiôta	ῐ̓δῐώτᾱ idiṓtā	ῐ̓δῐῶται idiôtai
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

First declension of ὁ ῐ̓δῐώτης; τοῦ ῐ̓δῐώτεω (Ionic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ ῐ̓δῐώτης ho idiṓtēs	τὼ ῐ̓δῐώτᾱ tṑ idiṓtā	οἱ ῐ̓δῐῶται hoi idiôtai
Genitive	τοῦ ῐ̓δῐώτεω / ῐ̓δῐώτω toû idiṓteō / idiṓtō	τοῖν ῐ̓δῐώταιν toîn idiṓtain	τῶν ῐ̓δῐωτέων / ῐ̓δῐωτῶν tôn idiōtéōn / idiōtôn
Dative	τῷ ῐ̓δῐώτῃ tôi idiṓtēi	τοῖν ῐ̓δῐώταιν toîn idiṓtain	τοῖσῐ / τοῖσῐν ῐ̓δῐώτῃσῐ / ῐ̓δῐώτῃσῐν toîsi(n) idiṓtēisi(n)
Accusative	τὸν ῐ̓δῐώτην tòn idiṓtēn	τὼ ῐ̓δῐώτᾱ tṑ idiṓtā	τοὺς ῐ̓δῐώτᾱς toùs idiṓtās
Vocative	ῐ̓δῐῶτᾰ idiôta	ῐ̓δῐώτᾱ idiṓtā	ῐ̓δῐῶται idiôtai
Notes:	Dialects other than Attic are not well attested. Some forms may be based on conjecture. Use with caution.

Descendants

• Greek: ιδιώτης m (idiótis)
• → Hebrew: הֶדְיוֹט m (hedyóṭ)
• → Latin: idiōta m
  • → Danish: idiot
  • → Dutch: idioot
  • → English: idiot
  • → French: idiot m
  • → Georgian: იდიოტი (idioṭi)
  • → German: Idiot m
  • → Hebrew: אִידִיוֹט m (idyóṭ)
  • → Italian: idiota m
  • → Portuguese: idiota m or f
  • → Romanian: idiot m
  • → Russian: идио́т m (idiót)
  • → Spanish: idiota m or f
  • → Swedish: idiot

References

• “ἰδιώτης”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “ἰδιώτης”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• ἰδιώτης 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
• G2399 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.
  • amateur idem, page 26.
  • dabbler idem, page 193.
  • dilettante idem, page 224.
  • individual idem, page 434.
  • layman idem, page 481.
  • person idem, page 608.
  • private idem, page 642.
• Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN