Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word
helot. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
helot, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
helot in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
helot you have here. The definition of the word
helot will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
helot, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Etymology
From Latin Hīlōta, from Ancient Greek Εἵλωτες (Heílōtes), possibly from ἁλίσκομαι (halískomai, “to be captured, to be made prisoner”) or from Ἕλος (Hélos, “Elos”), a Laconian town.
Pronunciation
Noun
helot (plural helots)
- (historical, Ancient Greece) A member of the ancient Spartan class of serfs.
1942, “Erato”, in George Rawlinson, transl., The Persian Wars, translation of original by Herodotus:[…] when one of their kings dies, not only the Spartans, but a certain number of the country people from every part of Laconia are forced, whether they will or no, to attend the funeral. So these persons and the helots, and likewise the Spartans themselves, flock together to the number of several thousands, men and women intermingled; and all of them smite their foreheads violently, and weep and wall without stint, saying always that their last king was the best.
- A serf; a slave.
1910 January 12, Ameen Rihani, “Probing the Trivial”, in The Book of Khalid, New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead and Company, published October 1911, →OCLC, book the first (In the Exchange), pages 10–11:A man who conceives and writes a great book, my friend, has done more work than all the helots that laboured on these pyramidal futilities.
1959, Anthony Burgess, Beds in the East (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 611:All wore a costume suggestive of a more tranquil and prosperous age than this — Dame Clara Butt singing, in a voice not quite so deep as Arumugam's, 'Land of Hope and Glory', the gold squeezed from tropical helots enhancing the upper-class comforts of a cold climate.
2014, Astra Taylor, quoting Barbara Ehrenreich, chapter 2, in The People's Platform: Taking Back Power and Culture in the Digital Age, Henry Holt and Company, →ISBN:“In part, the blame falls on the corporate elite,” Barbara Ehrenreich wrote back in 1989, “which demands ever more bankers and lawyers, on the one hand, and low-paid helots on the other.” These low-paid helots are now unpaid interns and networked amateurs.
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
Further reading
Anagrams
Finnish
Noun
helot
- nominative plural of helo
Anagrams
Swedish
Etymology
Borrowed from Ancient Greek Εἵλωτες (Heílōtes).
Noun
helot c
- helot
Usage notes
Usually in the plural.
Declension
See also
References