ἄναρχος

Forms

ᾰ̓́νᾰρχος (ánarkhos) m or f (neuter ᾰ̓́νᾰρχον); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek ἀν- (an-) + ἀρχός (arkhós, “leader”), with the privative prefix,^[2][3] or, as Wiktionary and Babiniotis analyse it, with ἀρχή (arkhḗ, “rule, beginning”).^[1][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Iliad it means “leaderless”, of a contingent without its commander.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Greek it stays “without a leader”: Euripides uses it of an undisciplined naval force, Plato of flocks without a herdsman and of a state where no one should be without a ruler, and Aristotle opposes animals that live without a leader to those under one.^[3][6][5] Aeschylus used the neuter as a noun for anarchy, set against despotism.^[3][5] An inscription from Teos has an “anarchic year”, a year without regular magistrates.^[5]

The second sense, “without beginning”, is philosophical from the start: Parmenides says that being is without beginning or end, and later the Neoplatonist Proclus describes a circle in the same words, while Sextus Empiricus uses it of an art “without first principles”.^[5][3][6] Christian writers such as Epiphanius used the adverb of the begetting of the Son, without beginning and outside time.^[6] Papyri and Pappus also use it of books whose beginning is lost.^[6]

The adjective lives on in medieval and Modern Greek άναρχος (ánarchos).^[7][8] Babiniotis notes that the modern political sense of its family owes something to French: αναρχικός (anarchikós) (1856) and αναρχισμός (anarchismós) (1886) render French anarchique and anarchisme.^[4]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it of a leaderless contingent.^[2][5]
• 6th–5th century BC – Parmenides uses it of what is “without beginning”.^[5][6]
• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses the neuter for anarchy.^[3][5]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle opposes animals without a leader to those under one.^[5]
• 2nd–3rd century AD – Sextus Empiricus uses it of an art “without first principles”.^[5]
• 1856 – Modern Greek forms the learned αναρχικός (anarchikós).^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Without a leader or chief; of animals, without a master; neuter as a noun, anarchy.^[5][3]
2. Of an army, undisciplined.^[3]
3. Of a year, without regular magistrates.^[5][6]
4. Not qualified to command.^[5][6]
5. Without beginning, eternal; of a book, lacking its beginning.^[5][6]
6. Without first principles.^[5][6]

Word family

• ἀναρχία (anarkhíā)

Related words

• ἀρχή (arkhḗ)
• ἀρχός (arkhós)
• ἄρχω (árkhō)

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
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 c Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
7. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
8. ^ Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki