σατράπης

Forms

σᾰτράπης (satrápēs) m (genitive σᾰτράπου); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old Median *xšaθrapāvā (“protector of the realm”), the Median counterpart of Old Persian xšaçapāvan-.^[1][2][3][4] Beekes, Frisk and Chantraine give the Old Iranian compound as “protecting the realm”, from the word for “rule, realm” that is related to κτάομαι (ktáomai, “to acquire”) and the verb “to protect” that is related to ποιμήν (poimḗn, “shepherd”).^[2][5][3]

Inscriptions and some authors have forms closer to the Iranian initial /xš/ and to its inner dental: ξατράπης (xatrápēs) in Arrian, ἐξατράπης (exatrápēs) in Theopompus, the verb ἐξαιθραπεύω (exaithrapeúō) in inscriptions of Caria, and also σαδράπας (sadrápas).^[4][2][3] Their initial ἐ- is partly due to folk etymology after the prefix ἐξ- (ex-).^[2][5][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The noun is used from Xenophon on for the governor of a province of the Persian king, though Herodotus already has the derivative σατραπηΐη (satrapēḯē, “satrapy”).^[2][3][4]

Semantic evolution

The title appears first in Darius I's Bisutun inscription, and was later used for Seleucid, Parthian and Sasanian governors too.^[6] In Attic it served also as slang for a very rich man: Alexis uses it so, and Lucian speaks of a man become a satrap after being poor.^[4] The Septuagint uses it for the five lords of the Philistines, Philostratus for a Roman governor, and an inscription and Pausanias for a god.^[4][7] Photius and the Lexica Segueriana gloss it as “leader, general”.^[8][9] It was borrowed into Latin as satrapēs.^[10][1]

Medieval Greek used it for a Persian governor and for an army officer.^[11] Modern Greek keeps it as a learned word, σατράπης (satrápis), both historically and, after French satrape, for a harsh and despotic person.^[12]

Timeline

• 5th–4th century BC – Xenophon uses it for a Persian provincial governor.^[4][2][13]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Alexis uses it as slang for a rich man.^[4][13]
• 2nd century AD – Pausanias uses it as the title of a god.^[4][13]
• 2nd–3rd century AD – Philostratus uses it for a Roman governor.^[4][13]
• 12th–17th century – Vernacular texts use it also for an army officer.^[11]
• Modern Greek – It survives as a learned word, also for a despotic person.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. A satrap, governor of a province of the Persian empire.^[4][14][2]
2. (Septuagint) A lord of the Philistines; in general, a governor or ruler.^[7][4]
3. (slang) A very rich man, a nabob.^[4]
4. A title of a god.^[4]

Word family

• σατραπεία (satrapeíā)
• σατραπεύω (satrapeúō)
• σατραπικός (satrapikós)

Related words

• Latin satrapes
• English satrap

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g 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
3. ^ a b c d e Chantraine, Pierre (2009), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque: histoire des mots, new ed. with a supplement (Chroniques d'étymologie grecque 1–10), Paris: Klincksieck
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
6. ^ Cancik, Hubert; Schneider, Helmuth, eds. (2002–2010), Brill's New Pauly: Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World, Leiden: Brill
7. ^ a b Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
8. ^ Photius, Lexicon, ed. Christos Theodoridis, vol. 1 (Α–Δ) (Berlin: De Gruyter, 1982); ed. Richard Porson (Cambridge, 1822)
9. ^ Lexica Segueriana, in Immanuel Bekker, ed. (1814), Anecdota Graeca I, Berlin: Nauck
10. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
11. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
12. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
13. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
14. ^ Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press