ὀλιγαρχία Ancient Greek · revision 3115

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=compound|attested=5th century BC, Herodotus|origins=grc ὀλίγος, grc ἀρχή}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /o.li.ɡar.kʰí.aː/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /o.li.ɣarˈçi.a/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /o.li.ɣarˈçi.a/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''ὀλιγαρχίᾱ''' (oligarkhíā) ''f'' (genitive ὀλιγαρχίᾱς); first declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is derived from [[ὀλιγάρχης|tr=oligárkhēs|t=oligarch]] with the suffix [[m|grc|-ία|tr=-ía]]; the compound is formed from [[ὀλίγος|tr=olígos|t=few]] and the root of [[ἀρχή|tr=arkhḗ|t=rule]]: “rule of the few”.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Herodotus uses it for government in the hands of a few families or persons, and an inscription from Thasos of the 5th century BC has the Ionic form ''ὀλιγαρχίη''.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In Athenian history it was the regime of the Four Hundred, in Thucydides, and of the Thirty, in Andocides and Plato's ''Apology''.^(LSJ 1940) Plato's ''Republic'' and ''Statesman'' and Aristotle's ''Politics'' analyse it as a constitution, and Aristotle speaks of “unmixed oligarchy”.^(LSJ 1940) A scholion on Aeschines mentions a statue of Oligarchy personified.^(LSJ 1940)

+

+ Modern Greek [[m|el|ολιγαρχία|tr=oligarchía]] is a regime in which power belongs to a small privileged group, and by extension the small group that holds much of a country's wealth.^(Triantafyllidis 1998)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it, and a Thasian inscription has ''ὀλιγαρχίη''.^(LSJ 1940)

+ * 5th century BC – Thucydides uses it for the regime of the Four Hundred.^(LSJ 1940)

+ * 5th–4th century BC – Plato analyses it in the ''Republic''.^(LSJ 1940)

+ * 4th century BC – Aristotle classifies its kinds in the ''Politics''.^(LSJ 1940)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|oligarchy]], government by a few families or persons.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+ # ''(personified)'' Oligarchy, as a statue.^(LSJ 1940)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[ὀλιγαρχέω|tr=oligarkhéō]]

+ * [[ὀλιγάρχης|tr=oligárkhēs]]

+ * [[ὀλιγαρχικός|tr=oligarkhikós]]

+ * [[ὀλίγος|tr=olígos]]

+ * [[ἀρχή|tr=arkhḗ]]

+ * [[ἀριστοκρατία|tr=aristokratía]]

+ * [[δημοκρατία|tr=dēmokratía]]

+ * [[en|oligarchy]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}