λαός

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

From Proto-Hellenic *lāwós, with further origin uncertain:

• Possibly from Proto-Indo-European *leh₂wos (“people (under arms)”), from *leh₂w- (“military action”);^[1] 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.^[2]
  • 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.^[3]

λᾱός • (lāós) m (genitive λᾱοῦ); second declension

1. people, people assembled, the people of a country
2. the soldiers
3. common people (as opposed to leaders or priests); the subjects of a prince

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

• “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

From Ancient Greek λαός (laós).

λαός • (laós) m (plural λαοί)

1. people, the mass of a community as distinguished from a special class (elite); the commonalty; the populace; the vulgar; the common crowd; the citizens.

→ Aromanian: lao