Note 66 — BOOK XI. (continued 2)
Charles Duke Yonge translation
This was the name given to the Spartan syssitia; apparently derived from φείδομαι (to spare), but probably being rather a corruption of φιλίτια (love feasts), a term answering to the Cretan ἑταιρεῖα, from which they were said to be borrowed. Anciently they were called ἀνδρεῖα, as in Crete.—Vide Smith, Dict. Ant. v. Syssitia.