Helot Hear it!

Helot definition

Helot (hel′ət)

noun

  1. a member of the lowest class of serfs in ancient Sparta
  2. any serf or slave

Etymology: L Helotes, Hilotae, pl. < Gr Heilōtes, pl., taken as after Helos, town in Laconia whose inhabitants were enslaved by the Spartans, but < ? base of haliskesthai, to be captured < IE base *wel-, to tear, injure > L vellere, to pluck, tear away

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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