ἀριστοκρατία

Pronunciation

• IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /a.ris.to.kra.tí.aː/^[1]
• IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /a.ris.to.kraˈti.a/^[1]
• IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /a.ris.to.kraˈti.a/^[1]

Forms

ἀριστοκρᾰτίᾱ (aristokratíā) f (genitive ἀριστοκρᾰτίᾱς); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is a compound of ἄριστος (áristos, “best”) and the element -κρατία (-kratía, “rule”), from κράτος (krátos, “power, rule”): “rule of the best”.^[1][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Thucydides speaks of a “moderate aristocracy”.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

In political theory it was one of the forms of constitution: Plato's Statesman uses it for the rule of the rich, and Aristotle and Polybius for the rule of the best, an ideal constitution beside monarchy and polity, which could decay into oligarchy.^[3][4][5] The comic poet Heniochus brings Aristocracy on stage as a woman opposed to Democracy.^[4]

English took aristocracy from French and Late Latin in the 1560s, at first contrasted with monarchy.^[2] Modern Greek αριστοκρατία (aristokratía) is both the ancient constitution and, after French aristocratie, the class of nobles or the rich.^[6]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – Thucydides speaks of a “moderate aristocracy”.^[3][4]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it for rule by the rich.^[3]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle treats it as a form of constitution.^[3][4]
• 2nd century BC – Polybius includes it in his cycle of constitutions.^[3][4]
• 1560s – English borrows aristocracy.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. Rule by the best men, aristocracy.^[5][3]
2. Rule by the rich.^[5][3]
3. (political theory) An ideal constitution, the rule of the best.^[3]

Related words

• ἄριστος (áristos)
• κράτος (krátos)
• δημοκρατία (dēmokratía)
• ὀλιγαρχία (oligarkhía)
• English aristocracy

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
5. ^ a b c Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
6. ^ Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki