- helot (n.)
- 1570s (with a capital H-) "Spartan serf," from Greek Heilotes, plural of Heilos, popularly associated with Helos, Laconian town reduced to serfdom by Sparta, but perhaps related to Greek halonai, haliskomai "be captured, be taken, be conquered." In extended use of any person in servile bondage by 1823.
