The study of ancient Greek economic thought is delicate, because the texts in which it is expressed can be interpreted in many ways, as evidenced by the long debate between primitivists and modernists. We examine a particular aspect of economic life, debt, following a lexicological approach, in order to grasp its perception by the ancient Greeks by studying the words associated with it. This lexicological perspective enables us to go beyond a purely economic analysis of debt relationships. We concentrate on the archaic and classical periods and show, through our analysis of how debt operated for the Greeks, that in spite of the presence of many sophisticated mechanisms closely resembling the modern concept of debt, there were fundamental distinctions.