λῃστής

• λᾳστής (lāistḗs) – Doric
• ληϊστής (lēïstḗs) – Ionic

From ληΐς (lēḯs), Epic form of λεία (leía, “plunder, spoils”)

λῃστής • (lēistḗs) m (genitive λῃστοῦ); first declension

(Attic) [proposed correction per Strong's Greek: “Strong's Greek: 3027. λῃστής (léstés)” instead of lēistḗs. Other Greek dictionaries give léstés or the equivalent lēstēs.]

1. robber, bandit
   • 429 BCE, Sophocles, Oedipus the King 122:

     (Κρέων) λῃστὰς ἔφασκε συντυχόντας οὐ μιᾷ ῥώμῃ κτανεῖν νιν, ἀλλὰ σὺν πλήθει χερῶν.
     (Οἰδίπους) πῶς οὖν ὁ λῃστής, εἴ τι μὴ ξὺν ἀργύρῳ ἐπράσσετ᾽ ἐνθένδ᾽, ἐς τόδ᾽ ἂν τόλμης ἔβη;

     (Kréōn) lēistàs éphaske suntukhóntas ou miâi rhṓmēi ktaneîn nin, allà sùn plḗthei kherôn.
     (Oidípous) pôs oûn ho lēistḗs, eí ti mḕ xùn argúrōi eprásset᾽ enthénd᾽, es tód᾽ àn tólmēs ébē?

     • Translation by Sir Richard Jebb. 1887. @perseus

       (Creon) He said that robbers fell upon them, not one man alone, but with a great force.
       (Oedipus) How then, unless some intrigue had been worked with bribes from here in Thebes, would the robbers have been so bold?

   • 429 BCE, Sophocles, Oedipus the King 535:

     οὗτος σύ, πῶς δεῦρ᾽ ἦλθες; ἦ τοσόνδ᾽ ἔχεις
     τόλμης πρόσωπον ὥστε τὰς ἐμὰς στέγας
     ἵκου, φονεὺς ὢν τοῦδε τἀνδρὸς ἐμφανῶς
     λῃστής τ᾽ ἐναργὴς τῆς ἐμῆς τυραννίδος;

     hoûtos sú, pôs deûr᾽ êlthes? ê tosónd᾽ ékheis
     tólmēs prósōpon hṓste tàs emàs stégas
     híkou, phoneùs ṑn toûde tandròs emphanôs
     lēistḗs t᾽ enargḕs tês emês turannídos?

     • Translation by Sir Richard Jebb. 1887. @perseus

       You, how did you get here? Are you so
       boldfaced that you have come to my house,
       you who are manifestly the murderer of its master,
       the palpable thief of its crown?

2. pirate, buccaneer
3. revolutionary, insurrectionist, guerrilla
4. (figuratively)
   • σωφροσύνας ὑβριστά, φρενοκλόπε, λῃστὰ λογισμοῦ, πτανὸν πῦρ, ψυχᾶς τραῦμ' ἀόρατον, Ἔρως

     sōphrosúnas hubristá, phrenoklópe, lēistà logismoû, ptanòn pûr, psukhâs traûm' aóraton, Érōs

     [you,] insolent of prudence, robber of the mind, pirate of reason, flying fire, invisible trauma of the soul, [you,] Eros
     APl. (Anthology of Planudes).4.198. [Maecius/Maccius]: Μελέαγρος [Meleager]

• (robber): κλέπτης m (kléptēs, “thief, cheat”), κλώψ m (klṓps, “thief”)
• (pirate): πειρατής (peiratḗs)

• ἀλήστευτος (alḗsteutos, “unpillaged”)
• ἀρχιλῃστής m (arkhilēistḗs, “robber-chief”)
• ληΐδιος (lēḯdios, “taken as booty, captive”)
• ληΐζομαι (lēḯzomai, “I plunder”), λῄζομαι (lḗizomai)
• ληϊστός (lēïstós, “to be plundered or taken by force”)
• ληϊστύς f (lēïstús, “plundering”) (Ionic)
• ληΐστωρ m (lēḯstōr, “ληϊστήρ”)
• ληῖτις f (lēîtis, “who makes or dispenses booty, epithet of Athena”)
• λῃστάρχης m (lēistárkhēs, “chief of robbers”)
• λῄσταρχος m (lḗistarkhos, “λῃστάρχης”)
• λῃστεία f (lēisteía, “robbery, piracy”)
• λῃστεύω (lēisteúō, “practise robbery or piracy”)
• λῃστήρ m (lēistḗr, “robber, buccaneer, pirate”), ληϊστήρ (lēïstḗr)
• λῃστήριον n (lēistḗrion, “band of robbers, retreat of robbers; plural: piratical vessels”)
• λῃστικός (lēistikós, “piratical”)
• λῃστοδῐώκτης m (lēistodiṓktēs, “a larceny judge”)
• λῃστοκτόνος m (lēistoktónos, “slaying robbers”)
• λῃστοπιαστής m (lēistopiastḗs, “thiefcatcher -in Egypt-”)
• λῃστοσαλπιγκτής m (lēistosalpinktḗs, “robbertrumpeter”)
• λῃστρικός (lēistrikós, “piratical”)
• λῃστρίς f (lēistrís, “pirate vessel”)
• λῄστωρ m (lḗistōr, “ληΐστωρ”)
• συλλῃστεύω (sullēisteúō, “join in robbing”)
• συλλῃστής m (sullēistḗs, “fellow-robber”) fem. συλλῄστρια (sullḗistria)
• φρενολῃστής m (phrenolēistḗs, “robber of the understanding, deceiver”)
• ψευδολῃστής m (pseudolēistḗs, “sham robber, name of a comedy Ψευδολῃσταί (The False-Robbers) by Timocles”)

• Greek: ληστής (listís)
• → Arabic: لِصّ‎ (liṣṣ)
• → Aramaic: לִסְטָא‎ (lesṭā) / ܠܣܛܐ‎ (lesṭā)

• λῃστής in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• λῃστής in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• λῃστής 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
• G3027 in Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible, 1979
• λῃστής in Trapp, Erich, et al. (1994–2007) Lexikon zur byzantinischen Gräzität besonders des 9.-12. Jahrhunderts [the Lexicon of Byzantine Hellenism, Particularly the 9th–12th Centuries], Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • bandit idem, page 61.
  • brigand idem, page 98.
  • buccaneer idem, page 102.
  • corsair idem, page 176.
  • depredator idem, page 213.
  • desperado idem, page 216.
  • filibuster idem, page 319.
  • freebooter idem, page 344.
  • marauder idem, page 513.
  • pirate idem, page 614.
  • plunderer idem, page 622.
  • privateer idem, page 642.
  • ravaged idem, page 674.
  • ravisher idem, page 674.
  • robber idem, page 719.
  • spoiler idem, page 803.