patriarcha

Forms

patriarcha m (genitive patriarchae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek πατριάρχης (patriárkhēs, “head of a family, patriarch”),^[2][3][4] from πατριά (patriá, “family, clan”) and ἄρχω (árkhō, “to rule”).^[1][5] Isidore of Seville explained the word as “princes of the fathers”.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Tertullian and the Old Latin Bible on,^[3][4] for the founding fathers of Israel: Tertullian writes of the patriarchs and the other ancestors.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In Christian Latin it named the fathers of the people of Israel, such as Abraham's descendants and the twelve sons of Jacob,^[3] and David is called a patriarch in the Old Latin Acts.^[3] Tertullian also used it figuratively, calling philosophers the patriarchs of heretics.^[2][6] The TLL finds it in legal language from the Theodosian Code on,^[3] and in the Historia Augusta it names a chief bishop.^[2][7]

In Medieval and Ecclesiastical Latin it was the title of the leading bishops, in the Eastern Church a bishop with jurisdiction over the metropolitans of a territory.^[8][9] Neo-Latin also used it for the general of a religious order.^[10] English patriarch comes from it, partly through Old French.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian uses it of the patriarchs of Israel and figuratively of philosophers.^[2][4]
• 383 AD – An inscription has the word.^[3]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it of Jacob's twelve sons.^[3][4]
• late 12th century – Borrowed into English as patriarke.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A patriarch, a founding father of a tribe, especially of Israel.^[2][3]
2. (figurative) A founder or chief, as of a school of thought.^[2][6]
3. (Late and Ecclesiastical Latin) A patriarch, one of the leading bishops.^[7][8][9]
4. (New Latin) The general of a religious order.^[10]

Related words

• English patriarch

Usage notes

A first-declension variant patriarches also occurs,^[2][6] and Paulinus of Nola has the shortened genitive plural patriarchum.^[2][7]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
9. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
10. ^ a b Ramminger, Johann, Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700, www.neulatein.de