Greek lexicography and the designation of helotic-like populations in Ancient Greece: The history of three compounds

Abstract

Slavery constitutes an old phenomenon inherent to Greek society from its origins onwards. Some terms attested for designating slaves in the first millennium are already employed in Linear B tablets, such as 'do-e-ro' and 'do-e-ra' for δοῦλος and δούλα (Attic δούλη), respectively. Contrary to the limited vocabulary for characterising free people, there exists a vast amount of specific terminology referred to slavery or to intermediate dependent statuses. Although many different allusions to slavery are to be found in the works of ancient authors, oddly enough we cannot find proper classifications of slaves regarding the available repertory of forms these authors had at their disposal. The first formal attempts of lexical arrangement aroused the interest of grammarians and lexicographers. Nonetheless, due to the historical gap between them and their sources, linguistic variants can be detected in their preserved works. This study focuses on the analysis of some of these lexical variants. Our objective is to trace back their lifeline in order to determine first the origins of the linguistic alterations and secondly to compare the different mechanisms that influenced later reinterpretations of them and confusion concerning the inherited terms. The research has been limited to the terminology that concerns the socalled helotic slavery type so as to update the inquiry in a well-defined area by compiling and analysing all the extant information.