Ancient Greek

Noun

ὑπηρέτης • ‎(hupērétēs) m ‎(genitive ὑπηρέτου); first declension

1. An Ancient Greek title, originally for a rower; In later times a title for those who performed any service in a vessel, except the soldiers or marines
2. Any person who acted as the assistant of another, and performed manual labour for him, whether in sacred or profane things; a slave.
3. A title for men by whom the hoplites (ὁπλίτης ‎(hoplítēs)) were accompanied when they took the field, and who carried the luggage, the provisions, and the shield of the hoplites. (The more common name for this servant of the hoplites was σκευοφόρος ‎(skeuophóros).)

Usage notes

At Athens it seems to have been applied to a class of officers. Aristotle (Polit. vi. 5) divides all public offices into three classes, archai (ἀρχή ‎(arkhḗ)) or magistracies, epimeleiai (ἐπιμέλεια ‎(epiméleia)) or administrations, and hyperesiai (ὑπηρεσία ‎(hupēresía)) or services.

References

• ὑπηρέτης in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• ὑπηρέτης in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• «ὑπηρέτης» in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• “G5257”, 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.
  • armour-bearer idem, page 40.
  • assistant idem, page 46.
  • attendant idem, page 51.
  • dependant idem, page 211.
  • domestic idem, page 246.
  • equerry idem, page 280.
  • esquire idem, page 282.
  • groom idem, page 374.
  • henchman idem, page 396.
  • knave idem, page 470.
  • lackey idem, page 473.
  • menial idem, page 524.
  • minister idem, page 531.
  • page idem, page 588.
  • pander idem, page 590.
  • retainer idem, page 706.
  • satellite idem, page 734.
  • servant idem, page 755.
  • slave idem, page 782.
  • squire idem, page 808.
  • underling idem, page 912.
• Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities.