Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

• βᾰσῐλῆος ‎(basilêos) Homeric, genitive
• βᾰσῐλῆϝος ‎(basilêwos) Arcadocypriot, genitive
• 𐠞𐠪𐠐𐠵𐠩 ‎(pa-si-le-wo-se) Cypriot, Cypriot syllabary

Noun

βᾰσῐλεύς • ‎(basileús) m ‎(genitive βᾰσῐλέως); third declension

1. chief, master
2. king, lord, patron
3. the first of any class of people/objects

Usage notes

During specific periods of Greek history βασιλεύς was used to describe certain foreign leaders, such as the Persian kings and Roman Caesars. In this usage, it often took on certain modifications, such as a lack of definite article or the use of the adjective μέγας ‎(mégas).

Inflection

This entry needs an inflection-table template.

Derived terms

Descendants

• English: basilean, basileolatry, basileus, basilolatry
• Greek: βασιλεύς ‎(vasiléfs), βασιλέας ‎(vasiléas), βασιλιάς ‎(vasiliás)
• Arabic: باسل

References

• βασιλεύς in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• βασιλεύς in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• βασιλεύς in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• «βασιλεύς» 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
• «βασιλεύς» in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• «βασιλεύς» in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (© 2006–2016)
• βασιλεύς in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
• “G935”, in Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible, 1979
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English-Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • king idem, page 469.
  • lord idem, page 500.
  • royalty idem, page 724.
  • ruler idem, page 726.
  • sovereign idem, page 797.
• Sihler, Andrew L. (1995) New Comparative Grammar of Greek and Latin, Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, § 319-320

Greek

Noun

βασιλεύς • ‎(vasiléfs) m ‎(plural βασιλείς)

1. Katharevousa form of βασιλιάς ‎(vasiliás, “king”)