archon

archon

See also: archón

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ἄρχων (árkhōn), a noun use of the present participle of ἄρχω (árkhō, to rule).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈɑː(ɹ)kən/
  • Audio (US):(file)

Noun

archon (plural archontes or archons)

  1. A chief magistrate of ancient Athens.
    • 1980, Burgess, Earthly Powers:
      Hated by the archons of Athens for his fearless condemnation of municipal graft, he was hypocritically arraigned on a charge of corrupting Athenian youth.
  2. A person who claims the right to rule, or to exercise power or sovereign authority over other human beings.
  3. A ruler, head of state or other leader.
    • 1922, James Joyce, Ulysses:
      But neither the midwife’s lore nor the caudlectures saved him from the archons of Sinn Fein and their noggin of hemlock.
  4. (Christianity, Gnosticism) A supernatural ruler of the cosmos.
    • 1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 83:
      Their claim to totality is like the cry of the archon Ialdabaoth that he was the Lord of the Universe and that there was nothing beyond him.

Derived terms

Translations

Further reading

Anagrams

Esperanto

Noun

archon

  1. H-system spelling of arĉon

Latin

Etymology

    Borrowed from Ancient Greek ἄρχων (árkhōn).

    Pronunciation

    Noun

    archōn m (genitive archontis); third declension

    1. archon

    Declension

    Third-declension noun.

    singular plural
    nominative archōn archontēs
    genitive archontis archontum
    dative archontī archontibus
    accusative archontem archontēs
    ablative archonte archontibus
    vocative archōn archontēs

    Descendants

    • Catalan: arcont
    • French: archonte
    • Italian: arconte
    • Portuguese: arconte
    • Romanian: arhonte
    • Spanish: arconte

    References

    • archon”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
    • archon”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
    • "archon", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
    • archon”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
    • archon”, in The Perseus Project (1999), Perseus Encyclopedia[1]
    • archon”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper’s Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
    • archon”, in William Smith, editor (1848), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray
    • archon”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin