Politics & SocietyGreek → English
Peltast
/ˈpɛltæst/noun
A light infantryman of the ancient Greek world, armed with javelins and a small crescent shield.
The Greek roots
πέλτη
péltē
small light shield
-αστής
-astḗs
one who carries, agent
Literally: “light-shield man”
The story of the word
The πέλτη was wicker covered in goat hide, Thracian in origin and light enough to run all day behind. Iphicrates rebuilt the Athenian peltasts in the 390s BC and used them to cut up a Spartan regiment near Corinth, which did more to the hoplite's reputation than any pitched battle. The shield's name is cognate with Latin pellis, a skin, and so with the English pelt.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → English
In a sentence
The peltasts worked the broken ground on the flank where the phalanx could not follow.