πολύς

• πολλός (pollós) — Ionic
• πουλύς (poulús) — Epic

From Proto-Indo-European *polh₁ús (“much, many”), o-grade derivative of the root *pleh₁- (“to fill”). Cognates include Latin plūs (“more”), Sanskrit पुरु (puru, “much, many, abundant”), Old Irish oll (“great, vast”), Old English feolo (“much, many”) and Old Armenian յոլով (yolov).^[1]

πολῠ́ς • (polŭ́s) m (feminine πολλή, neuter πολῠ́); first/second declension

1. (of number, in the plural) many, a lot of
   1. (with nouns of multitude) large, great
   2. (of amount, with mass nouns) a lot of, much
   3. (rare, of a person) great, mighty
   4. (of sound) loud
   5. (attributively, adverbial) strongly, fully
   6. (of space) wide, large
   7. (of distance) far
   8. (of time) long; late

      πολὺν χρόνον

      polùn khrónon

      for a long time

      • 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 8.101.3:

        ἔτι πολλῆς νυκτός

        éti pollês nuktós

        though still late night

2. neuter πολύ (polú) or πολλά (pollá) as substantive
   1. much, a lot
      1. πολλοῦ ἄξιος (polloû áxios), πολλῶν ἄξιος (pollôn áxios): worth a lot, valuable
      2. περὶ πολλοῦ ποιέομαι (perì polloû poiéomai): to think something worth a great deal, value it greatly, be glad

         πολλὰ πιών καὶ πολλὰ φαγών καὶ πολλὰ κάκ’ εἰπὼν ἀνθρώπους κεῖμαι Τιμοκρέων Ῥόδιος

         pollà piṓn kaì pollà phagṓn kaì pollà kák’ eipṑn anthrṓpous keîmai Timokréōn Rhódios

         After much drinking, much eating and much slandering of men I lie here, Timocreon of Rhodes.

         • 445 BCE – 380 BCE, Lysias, On the Murder of Eratosthenes 1:

           περὶ πολλοῦ ἂν ποιησαίμην, ὦ ἄνδρες, τὸ τοιούτους ὑμᾶς ἐμοὶ γενέσθαι

           perì polloû àn poiēsaímēn, ô ándres, tò toioútous humâs emoì […] genésthai

           I would be glad, gentlemen, to have you be this way

   2. (of distance) A great distance, far

Unlike in English, when πολύς (polús) is combined with another adjective, it is usually joined to the adjective with καί (kaí): πολλὰ καὶ κακά (pollà kaì kaká, “many bad things”, literally “many and bad things”).

The declension of πολύς (polús) is formed from two stems, πολ- (pol-) and πολλ- (poll-) < πολϝ- (polw-).

• ὀλίγος (olígos)

• πλείων (pleíōn)
• πλεῖστος (pleîstos)

• English: poly-
• French: poly-
• Italian: poli-

• “πολύς”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “πολύς”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “πολύς”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• πολύς 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
• πολύς in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• “πολύς”, in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
• G4183 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.
  • abundant idem, page 5.
  • affluent idem, page 17.
  • ample idem, page 28.
  • bitter idem, page 80.
  • considerable idem, page 163.
  • copious idem, page 173.
  • deal idem, page 198.
  • deep idem, page 203.
  • divers idem, page 243.
  • extensive idem, page 296.
  • flowing idem, page 330.
  • full idem, page 348.
  • generous idem, page 356.
  • great idem, page 372.
  • heavy idem, page 393.
  • highest idem, page 400.
  • huge idem, page 409.
  • immense idem, page 417.
  • large idem, page 476.
  • liberal idem, page 488.
  • long idem, page 498.
  • many idem, page 513.
  • much idem, page 545.
  • multitudinous idem, page 546.
  • numerous idem, page 563.
  • overflowing idem, page 585.
  • plentiful idem, page 620.
  • profuse idem, page 653.
  • quantity idem, page 663.
  • repeated idem, page 696.
  • rich idem, page 712.
  • stream idem, page 824.
  • strong idem, page 827.
  • teeming idem, page 859.
  • ungrudging idem, page 920.
  • unremitting idem, page 929.
  • unsparing idem, page 932.
  • various idem, page 944.
  • vast idem, page 945.
  • voluminous idem, page 956.
  • wealthy idem, page 970.

Inherited from Ancient Greek πολύς (polús, “many”).

• IPA^(key): /poˈlis/
• Hyphenation: πο‧λύς

πολύς • (polýs) m (feminine πολλή, neuter πολύ)

1. much, many, a lot of

   Αγόρασα πολύ λάδι. ― Agórasa polý ládi. ― I bought a lot of oil.

2. too much

   Έβαλες πολλή ζάχαρη στον καφέ. ― Évales pollí záchari ston kafé. ― You put too much sugar in the coffee.

• πολύ (polý, adverbial form)
• πολλάκις (pollákis, “often”) (formal)