τύραννος

Forms

τῠ́ρᾰννος (túrannos) m or f (genitive τῠρᾰ́ννου); second declension^[1]

Etymology

Beekes considers it Pre-Greek, because of its suffix ⟨-ανν-⟩, and finds none of the other hypotheses plausible.^[2][3] Frisk calls it an unexplained foreign word from the culture of Asia Minor and the Aegean, like βασιλεύς (basileús) and probably ἄναξ (ánax), unlike the inherited κοίρανος (koíranos).^[4] The New Pauly suggests Lydian tūran (“lord”), and Wiktionary a Lydian or other Anatolian word for “king”.^[5][1]

Comparisons with Etruscan turan, a title of Venus (perhaps “mistress”), and with Hittite tarawanaš are doubtful, according to Babiniotis and Frisk.^[6][4][1] Scarborough's database rates its foreign origin as very reliable.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

According to the New Pauly, the word is first attested in the mid-7th century BC, in Archilochus, for the Lydian king Gyges;^[5] Hippias already said it was first used in Archilochus' time.^[5][8] Semonides then uses it of a ruler, and Alcaeus of Pittacus.^[8][9]

Semantic evolution

At first it was neutral, a synonym of monarchy: it named the autocrats who seized power in many Greek cities in the 7th and 6th centuries BC, and could also be used of gods, of a queen or princess, and in the plural of a royal family.^[9][5][8] Herodotus applies it to oriental kings and satraps.^[9] Aristocratic poets used it to attack a rival, and it later took on its bad sense, the despot of the orators, Plato and Aristotle.^[5][9] Thucydides calls Athens a “tyrant city”.^[9]

Latin borrowed it as tyrannus.^[10] Modern Greek τύραννος (týrannos) continues the ancient word, and is a learned word in the original sense of an absolute ruler.^[11]

Timeline

• 7th century BC – Archilochus uses the word, of the Lydian king Gyges.^[5][12]
• 7th–6th century BC – Semonides and Alcaeus use it of rulers.^[8][12]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it of Greek tyrants and of oriental kings.^[9][12]
• 5th century BC – Thucydides calls Athens a “tyrant city”.^[9][12]
• 4th century BC – The orators, Plato and Aristotle use it of the despot.^[9][12]
• Modern Greek – It survives, and is a learned word in the sense of an absolute ruler.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. An absolute ruler, whose power is not limited by law, a monarch; of gods, a lord.^[8][9]
2. A tyrant, an autocrat who seized power in a Greek city; later, a despot.^[9][5]
3. (feminine) A queen, a princess.^[8][9]

Adjective

1. Royal, kingly; despotic, tyrannical.^[9][2]

Word family

• ἀτυράννευτος (aturánneutos)
• ἰσοτύραννος (isotúrannos)
• τυραννεῖον (turanneîon)
• τυραννεύω (turanneúō)
• τυραννίζω (turannízō)
• τυραννικός (turannikós)
• τυραννικῶς (turannikôs)
• τυραννίς (turannís)
• τυραννοκτονία (turannoktoníā)
• τυραννοποιός (turannopoiós)
• φιλοτύραννος (philotúrannos)
• ἀντιτυραννέω (antiturannéō)
• ἐντυραννέομαι (enturannéomai)
• κατατυραννέω (kataturannéō)

Related words

• Latin tyrannus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2014), Pre-Greek: Phonology, Morphology, Lexicon, ed. Stefan Norbruis, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
5. ^ a b c d e f g Cancik, Hubert; Schneider, Helmuth, eds. (2002–2010), Brill's New Pauly: Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World, Leiden: Brill
6. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
7. ^ Scarborough, Matthew (2025), PHILOGLOSSA: database of Pre-Greek and other non-Indo-European words in Ancient Greek, version 1.0
8. ^ a b c d e f Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
10. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
11. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
12. ^ a b c d e Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge