Etymologically
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ἀρχός

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Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /ar.kʰós/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /arˈxos/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /arˈxos/[1]

Forms

ᾰ̓ρχός (arkhós) m (genitive ᾰ̓ρχοῦ); second declension[1]

Etymology

It is a verbal noun from Ancient Greek ἄρχω (árkhō, “to begin; to rule”).[2][1] Klingenschmitt derived the verb from a present Proto-Indo-European *h₂r̥-ske- (“to be first”), but its origin is disputed.[3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Iliad it is a leader or chief, often in apposition to “man”, and with the genitive, a leader of ships.[4][5]

Semantic evolution

It stayed mainly poetic: Pindar calls the eagle of Zeus the chief of birds, and Euripides uses it of a city's ruler.[4][5] Inscriptions use it as a title: a ruler at Miletus in the 6th century BC, a god at Argos in the 5th, and later the equivalent of an ἄρχων (árkhōn).[4] A 4th-century AD inscription renders the Roman title dux Orientis with it.[4] In Hippocratic medicine and in Aristotle it is the rectum, and in Hippocratic writings also the anus.[4]

In the medieval vernacular Byzantine Greek αρχός (arkhós) is a leader, probably from άρχος (árkhos) under the influence of αρχηγός (arkhēgós), and it survives in dialects.[6]

Timeline

  • Homer – The Iliad uses it for a leader of men and of ships.[4][7]
  • 6th century BC – An inscription from Miletus uses it for a ruler.[4]
  • 6th–5th century BC – Pindar calls the eagle the chief of birds.[4][5][8]
  • 5th century BC – An inscription from Argos applies it to a god.[4]
  • 5th century BC – Hippocratic writers use it for the rectum and the anus.[4][8]
  • 4th century AD – An inscription renders the Roman title dux Orientis with it.[4]
  • Medieval Greek – Vernacular texts use Byzantine Greek αρχός (arkhós) for a leader.[6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A leader or chief, with the genitive of those led.[4][5]
  2. A ruler; in inscriptions, an ἄρχων (árkhōn).[4]
  3. Of a god.[4]
  4. (anatomy) The rectum; the anus.[4]
  • ἄρχω (árkhō)
  • ἄρχων (árkhōn)
  • ὄρχαμος (órkhamos)

Usage notes

Beekes treats the anatomical sense as a separate word of unknown origin.[3] Frisk asks whether it is simply the word for “leader” used as an ironic euphemism, and the DGE notes a comparison with ὄρρος (órrhos, “rump”) and Hittite arra- (“anus”), which would make it an independent word, but Frisk calls that comparison arbitrary.[2][8]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
  3. ^ 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
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  6. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
  7. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
  8. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge