Question

The term ‘Politics’ has been drawn from the Greek word polis which means _____.
A. City state
B. Town state
C. Mini state
D. State

Answer 1

Hint:A closer source for the word ‘Politics’ is the word politika meaning ‘affairs of the cities’.
The word polis was used in ancient Greece to refer to an area established as a network of villages.

Complete answer:
The word ‘Politics’ is derived from the Greek word politika which literally means ‘affairs of the cities’. The Greek word ‘polis’ literally means City state in English. It is also sometimes used to refer to a religious or administrative centre of a city. The English term ‘city-state’ does not completely translate the true meaning of the term polis. The meaning of word polis has changed over time with the development of societies and governance in cities and states. In ancient Greek, the word polis was used for a ‘city’. With time the word started including the neighbouring villages of the city and it was then being used to refer to a ‘state’. The word polis was used to refer to ‘Sparta’ which was established as a network of villages.
Later as people emerged with the idea of citizenship, they started using the term polis for entire bodies of citizens. This meaning of the word polis became very important and popular in ancient Greece.
Many English words have been derived from the word polis by adding other Greek words as prefix. For e.g.
Metropolis – It is the mother city of a colony
Necropolis – It is literally the ‘city of the dead’ and is used to refer to a graveyard.
Decapolis – It is a group of ten cities.

Hence the correct answer is option A.

Note:Many cities all around the world, in the ancient time were named after this Greek word.
Nicopolis or ‘Victory City’ is presently located in Israel.
Heracleopolis or ‘Hercules City’ was the capital city of Ancient Northern Egypt.
Constantinopolis or Constantinople meaning ‘Constantine’s city’ is presently known as Istanbul.
This shows how significant the Greek language has been since the beginning of civilization and it still is.