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[489] ἐπάρουρος, lit. ‘on the soil;’ used of a serf, who is adscriptus glebae: θητευέμεν appears to express the condition of such a ‘serf’ or ‘villain:’ “θῆτες” are distinguished from “δμῶες” in Od.4. 644: the fact of ‘working for hire’ seems to mark the difference between the two. In the Solonian constitution the “Θῆτες” were commonly defined as hired labourers. Buttm. in his Lexil. refers “θής” to “τί-θη-μι” and “θάσσω”, as if implying a ‘settlement’ on the spot; others to root “θε”, Skt. dhA, in the sense of ‘doing,’ i. e. ‘working.’ To the same root Curtius refers the Lat. famulus.

Homer's Odyssey. W. Walter Merry. James Riddell. D. B. Monro. Oxford. Clarendon Press. 1886-1901.

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