δυνάστης

Forms

δῠνᾰ́στης (dunástēs) m (genitive δῠνᾰ́στου); first declension^[1] Doric δυνάστας (dunástās), in Sophocles' lyrics.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek δύναμαι (dúnamai, “to be able”) + -της (-tēs), with the ⟨σ⟩ that the verb also shows in its aorist ἐδυνάσθην (edunásthēn).^[4][1][3] Babiniotis notes that the analysis is probable but the ⟨σ⟩ is hard to explain.^[5]

Beekes analyses the verb as a present with a nasal infix and gives its further origin as unclear, but he cites LIV's reconstruction of a root Proto-Indo-European *dewh₂- (“to join together”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Anacreon calls Eros the master of the gods.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It was first a word for a lord or sovereign, used of the gods: Sophocles calls Zeus an ageless ruler, Aeschylus calls the stars bright potentates that bring the seasons, and Gorgias calls speech a great master.^[2][3][6] In prose it is a man of power: the chief men of a people in Herodotus, the rich and powerful in Democritus, potentates beside kings in Plato, and a petty chief in Thucydides.^[6][2] Polybius and Strabo list rulers of this kind beside kings and generals.^[6][2]

The Septuagint calls the God of Israel the great sovereign, and the New Testament calls him the only Sovereign, and Luke has the mighty brought down from their thrones.^[2][7] It was borrowed as Latin dynastes,^[8] and English dynast comes from that Latin word.^[9] Medieval Greek kept the word.^[10] The learned Modern Greek δυνάστης (dynástis) means an oppressive ruler or a domineering person, in the sense of the verb καταδυναστεύω (katadynastévo, “to oppress”).^[11]

Timeline

• 6th century BC – Anacreon calls Eros the master of the gods.^[2]
• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus calls the stars bright potentates.^[6][2][3]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it for the chief men of a people, and Sophocles for Zeus.^[6][2]
• 5th century BC – Thucydides uses it for a petty local chief.^[6]
• 2nd century BC – Polybius names such rulers beside kings and generals.^[6][2]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament calls God the only Sovereign.^[7][2]
• 1630s – English borrows dynast from Late Latin.^[9]
• Modern Greek – The learned δυνάστης (dynástis) means an oppressive ruler.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A lord, sovereign, of a god: Zeus, Eros, the God of Israel.^[2][3][7]
2. A man of power or authority; a ruler of a region; a petty chief.^[6][3][2]
3. (figurative) A master or potentate: of the stars, of speech.^[2][3]

Word family

• δυναστεία (dunasteíā)
• δυναστευτικός (dunasteutikós)
• δυναστεύω (dunasteúō)
• δυναστικός (dunastikós)

Related words

• δύναμαι (dúnamai)
• δύναμις (dúnamis)
• Latin dynastes
• English dynast
• English dynasty

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
3. ^ a b c d e f g Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
4. ^ a b Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c Bauer, Walter; Danker, Frederick W., et al. (2000), A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed., Chicago: University of Chicago Press
8. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
11. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki