ῥίζα .ῥίζα, ης, ἡ, a root, Od., Attic: in pl. the roots, Hom. metaph. the roots of the eye, Od.; the roots or foundations of the earth, Hes., Aesch., etc. ἐκ ῥιζῶν, Lat. radicitus, Plut. anything that grows like a root from one stem, whence Pindar calls Libya the τρίτη ῥίζα χθονός, considering the earth as divided into three continents. metaph. the root or stock from which a family springs, Lat. stirps, Pind., Aesch., etc.; and so a race, family, Aesch., Eur., etc.