Bible Lexicons

In the papyri λαοί is the regular term for ";natives,"; ";fellaheen."; Thus in P Petr II. 4(11).4 (B.C. 255–4) we hear of a salt-tax imposed τοῖς ἐκ Κερκεήσιος λαοῖς, where the editor remarks, ";an ancient and poetical form for people found both in the LXX and in Papyri"; : cf. P Lille I. 16.8 (iii/B.C.) ἐπειδὴ καὶ ἀπεργάζονται οἱ λαοὶ τὸ κέρμα τοῦτο εἰς ἄριστον, ";since the natives are working off (?) this small tax as well as they can,"; P Par 63.101 (B.C. 164) (= P Petr III. p. 26) τοὺς πλείστους δὲ τῶν ἐν ταῖς κώμαις κατοικούντων λαῶν οἳ διὰ τὴν τῶν δεόντων σπάνιν ἐργατεύοντες πορίζονται τὰ πρὸς τὸ ζῆν, ";also most of the people inhabiting the villages, who, through lack of necessaries, supply themselves with the means of life by hard labour"; (Mahaffy), ib. .132 τ ̣ῶν μὲν ταλαιπώρων λαῶν καὶ τῶν μαχίμων καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἀδυνατούντων φει ̣σε ̣σθε, ";you must spare the miserable populace and the μάχιμοι and the others who are incapable"; (id.), and ib. .166 προτρεψαμένου τοὺς στρατηγοὺς καὶ τοὺς λαοὺς ἐ [πι ]δέξασθαι τὰ τῆς ἀσχολίας, ";instigated the strategi and the people to undertake the labour (of seed-sowing)"; (id.). For a similar use in the inscrr. cf. OGIS 90.12 (Rosetta stone—B.C. 196) ὅπως ὅ τε λαὸς καὶ οἱ ἄλλοι πάντες ἐν εὐθηνίαι ὦσιν ἐπὶ ἑαυτοῦ βασιλείας, where the editor defines λαός as ";volgus Aegyptiorum, praecipue opifices et agricolae, eidem fere qui v. 52 ἰδιῶται appellantur ut distinguantur a sacerdotibus,"; and ib. 225.8, .22, .34 (iii/B.C.), where it is applied to the native population of Syria. See also Syll 897 (Larisa) Θεοφίλα Σελεύκου γυνὴ τῷ λαῷ χα [ί ]ρειν : Dittenberger says the word is often so used in epitaphs. The expression λαϊκὰ (σώματα) occurs bis in P Lille I. 10 (iii/B.C.), where it stands with τεθραμμένα between ἀρσενικά and θηλυκά in an enumeration, but the editors are unable to determine the exact meaning. The adj. is also found in BGU IV. 1053 . 10 (B.C. 13) μηδὲ ἐπ᾽ ἄσυλον τόπον μηδὲ ἐπὶ λαϊκὴν βοήθηαν. For λαοκρίτης (not in LS8), a native judge, cf. P Tebt I. 5.219 (B.C. 118) τὰς δὲ τῶν Αἰγυ (πτίων) πρὸς τοὺς αὐτοὺς <Αἰ >γυ (πτίους) κρίσεις μὴ ἐπισπᾶσθαι τοὺς χρημα (τιστὰς) ἀλλ᾽ ἐᾶν κριν (om.) διεξάγεσθαι ἐπὶ τῶν λαοκριτῶν κατὰ τοὺς τῆς χώρας νόμους, ";and that suits of Egyptians against Egyptians shall not be dragged by the chrematistae into their own courts, but they shall allow them to be decided before the native judges in accordance with the national laws"; (Edd.), and P Tor I. 1vii. 3 (B.C. 116) εἰ καὶ ἐπὶ λαοκριτῶν διεκρίνοντο καθ᾽ οὓς παρεκείτο νόμους, ";si apud Populares Iudices lis instituta esset ad praescriptum legum ab ipso laudatarum"; (Ed.) : see further Archiv v. p. 1 ff. For λαογραφία (LXX) in its primary sense of a taxing-list of native Egyptians, cf. P Tebt I. 103 (B.C. 94 or 61) with the editors’ introduction, and see s.v. ἀπογραφή. On the characteristic use of λαός in the LXX and NT with reference to first the Jews, then the Christians, see Hort on 1 Peter 2:9, and cf. Hicks (CR i. p. 42), who, after remarking on the ";noble associations"; of the word in past Greek life and thought, points out that ";it was reserved for Jewish lips to give the word a sacred significance and a world-wide currency."; On its application to the ";laity"; as distinguished from the ";clergy"; in the Lycaonian inscrr. from mid. iv/A.D., see Ramsay Luke, p. 387 ff. MGr λαϊκός, ";layman.";

Mayser thinks the word may originally have been a poetic word used primarily in the plur. : see Gr. p. 29, but cf. Thumb Archiv iv. p. 490, and Wackernagel Hellenistica, p. 10.

 

λαοι λαοί λαοὶ λαοις λαοίς λαοῖς λαον λαόν λαὸν λαος λαός λαὸς λαου λαού λαοῦ λαόυ λαούς λαω λαώ λαῷ λαων λαών λαῶν lao laō laoi laoí laoì laôi laō̂i laois laoîs laon laón laòn laôn laōn laō̂n laos laós laòs laou laoû