trierarchus

Forms

triērarchus m (genitive triērarchī); second declension^[1] Inscriptions also have triērarcha, of the first declension.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek τριήραρχος (triḗrarkhos, “captain of a trireme”).^[3][4][5][1] The Greek word is formed from τριήρης (triḗrēs, “trireme”) and ἄρχω (árkhō, “to be first, rule”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler and Georges record it first in Cicero's speeches against Verres.^[5][2][6]

Semantic evolution

It names the commander of a trireme, a warship with three banks of oars.^[3][6][5] Besides Cicero it is used by Tacitus in the Histories and the Annals and by Suetonius in his Life of Nero,^[6][2][7] and it also appears in inscriptions.^[6][2]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it in the Verrines.^[2][6][5]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses it in the Histories and the Annals.^[2][7][5]
• c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius uses it in his Life of Nero.^[2][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. The commander of a trireme, a trierarch.^[3][6][7]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
3. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
5. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier