-ίτης

Ancient Greek Alternative forms grc -ῖτῐς feminine Etymology grc nominal :der -της<id:demonym> grc - a grc πολῑ́της 1 grc πόλῐς<t:city> -της<pos:demonym suffix> 1, by reanalysing it as grc πόλῐς<alt:πόλ-> <alt:-ῑ́της> 1. Pronunciation -ῑ́της Suffix -ῑ́της -ῑ́του m first -ῖτῐς Suffix forming a masculine noun: one connected to, a member of; one from a particular place grc demonym Usage notes Originally formed generic adjectives, such as grc ὁπλῑ́της hoplite one with armour from grc ὅπλον large shield; grc πολῑ́της citizen one from the city from grc πόλῐς city etc. By the Hellenistic period, both masculine grc -ῑ́της and feminine grc -ῖτῐς became very productive in forming technical terms for products, diseases, minerals and gems (adjectives with elliptic grc λῐ́θος stone), ethnic designations and Biblical tribal names. These technical uses survive in modern languages in Greek loanwords for diseases (in en -itis), for minerals (in en -ite) and for nations, tribes or religious sects (plurals in en -ites). Declension -ῑ́της -ῑ́του Descendants 1 la -ītēs See also grc References 843