Helot

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈhɛlət/

Definitions

1. A person in ancient Sparta designated as a serf, who was tied to the land and worked on behalf of the ruling class for their livelihoods
2. An individual from a historical social class in Greece, who was largely dependent on and servile to their conquering landlords and contributed to agricultural production
3. A member of a subjugated class in ancient Greece, often forced into agricultural labor and underprivileged compared to their overlords

Etymology: The Helots were the enslaved population of ancient Sparta, and their name may come from a verb meaning "to be captured." Ancient Greek "Heilotes" was the plural of a word whose exact origin is disputed. One explanation links it to "haliskomai," "to be captured or made prisoner," which would suit a people conquered and held in bondage. The other connects it to "Helos," the name of a town in Laconia, the region around Sparta, suggesting its inhabitants were the people of that town who were subdued when Sparta expanded. Latin borrowed the Greek form as "Hilota," and English took the word, in its Latin-shaped spelling, as a name for the Spartan serfs. Over time it lost its ancient Spartan specificity and came to denote any enslaved or serf-like agricultural worker in general, which is the sense the word carries today.

Synonyms: serf, slave

Antonyms: free person, noble