# λαός
## Ancient Greek
### Alternative forms

* λεώς (leṓs) — Attic
* ληός (lēós) — Ionic
* λαϝός (lawós) — Laconian, Corinthian

### Etymology

From Proto-Hellenic *lāwós, with further origin uncertain:
* Possibly from Proto-Indo-European *leh₂wos (“people (under arms)”), from *leh₂w- (“military action”); in this case, cognate with Phrygian λαϝαγταει (lawagtaei, “military leader”), Hittite 𒆷𒄴𒄩𒀸 (laḫḫa-, “campaign”), and Old Irish láech (“warrior”).
* Beekes and Furnee take the word as Pre-Greek, as the related proper noun Λήϊτος (Lḗïtos) is difficult to explain in Indo-European terms.
** According to Martin Bernal 2006, further substantiating a theory of Samuel Bochart in the 17th century, the specific borrowing is Semitic, exactly matching Hebrew לְאֹום (ləʔōm, “people”), with copious relations in Akkadian līm (“many”), the Arabic root ل ء م (l-ʔ-m), etc.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /laː.ós/ → /laˈos/ → /laˈos/
* (5th BCE Attic) IPA: /laː.ós/
* (1st CE Egyptian) IPA: /laˈos/
* (4th CE Koine) IPA: /laˈos/
* (10th CE Byzantine) IPA: /laˈos/
* (15th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA: /laˈos/

### Noun

λᾱός • (lāós) m (genitive λᾱοῦ); second declension
* people, people assembled, the people of a country
* the soldiers
* common people (as opposed to leaders or priests); the subjects of a prince

#### Derived terms

* Ἀγέλᾱος (Agélāos)
* Ἀγησίλᾱος (Agēsílāos)
* Αἰτωλός (Aitōlós)
* Ἑρμόλᾱος (Hermólāos)
* Λᾱέρτης (Lāértēs)
* λᾱϊκός (lāïkós)
* Λᾱοθόη (Lāothóē)
* Λᾱομέδων (Lāomédōn)
* λειτουργός (leitourgós)
* Λεωσθένης (Leōsthénēs)
* Λεωτῠχῐ́δης (Leōtŭkhĭ́dēs)
* λήϊτον (lḗïton)
* Μενέλᾱος (Menélāos)
* Νῑκόλᾱος (Nīkólāos)
* Πρωτεσῐ́λᾱος (Prōtesĭ́lāos)
* Σθενέλᾱος (Sthenélāos)
* Φιλόλᾱος (Philólāos)

#### Descendants

* → Coptic: ⲗⲁⲟⲥ (laos)
* Greek: λαός (laós)

### References

* ↑ Douglas & Adams
* ↑ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “λαός”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 832-3
* ↑ Bernal, Martin (2006) Black Athena. Volume III. The Linguistic Evidence, New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, →ISBN, pages 321–322

### Further reading

* “λαός”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
* “λαός”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
* “λαός”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
* λαός in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
* λαός in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
* “λαός”, in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
* G2992 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
* Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited. commons idem, page 149.people idem, page 604.
* Mallory, J. P., Adams, D. Q., editors (1997), Encyclopedia of Indo-European culture, London, Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, page 31a

## Greek
### Etymology

From Ancient Greek λαός (laós).

### Noun

λαός • (laós) m (plural λαοί)
* people, the mass of a community as distinguished from a special class (elite); the commonalty; the populace; the vulgar; the common crowd; the citizens.

#### Descendants

→ Aromanian: lao