ἀναρχία Ancient Greek · revision 3186

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=6th–5th century BC, Aeschylus|origins=grc ἄναρχος}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /a.nar.kʰí.aː/^(Wiktionary)

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

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

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''ᾰ̓νᾰρχῐ́ᾱ''' (anarkhíā) ''f'' (genitive ᾰ̓νᾰρχῐ́ᾱς); first declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is derived from [[ἄναρχος|tr=ánarkhos|t=without a leader]] with the abstract suffix [[m|grc|-ία|tr=-íā]].^(Wiktionary)^(CGL 2021)^(Etymonline) Ἄναρχος is formed from the privative prefix and [[ἀρχός|tr=arkhós|t=leader]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Aeschylus uses it both for the lack of a leader, in the ''Suppliants'', and for disorder: the ''Agamemnon'' speaks of “anarchy shouted by the people”.^(DGE)^(LSJ 1940)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Herodotus uses it for an army without a commander, and Thucydides for the indiscipline of troops.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021) In political thought it was lawlessness and disorder: Plato links it with lawlessness and opposes it to freedom, and Aristotle with disorder, and with the licence of slaves and women.^(LSJ 1940)^(DGE) At Athens it was the name of a year without an archon, as Xenophon and Aristotle record.^(CGL 2021)^(DGE) Etymonline notes its use for the year of the Thirty Tyrants.^(CGL 2021)^(DGE)^(Etymonline) Epictetus uses it for not holding office, and Galen for a disorder of the body.^(DGE)^(LSJ 1940)

+

+ Gregory of Nazianzus names “anarchy, polyarchy and monarchy” as the three opinions about God, here meaning the denial of a first principle.^(DGE) English took ''anarchy'' from French or Medieval Latin in the 1530s.^(Etymonline) Modern Greek [[m|el|αναρχία|tr=anarchía]] is disorder and, rarely, anarchism.^(Triantafyllidis 1998)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it for lack of leadership and for disorder.^(DGE)^(LSJ 1940)

+ * 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it for an army without a commander.^(LSJ 1940)

+ * 5th–4th century BC – Xenophon records an Athenian year without an archon.^(CGL 2021)^(DGE)

+ * 4th century BC – Aristotle discusses it as political disorder.^(LSJ 1940)^(DGE)

+ * 4th century AD – Gregory of Nazianzus uses it in theology.^(DGE)

+ * 1530s – English borrows ''anarchy''.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # Lack of a leader or commander.^(CGL 2021)^(LSJ 1940)

+ # Lawlessness, disorder, [[m|en|anarchy]]; indiscipline.^(CGL 2021)^(LSJ 1940)

+ # ''(Athens)'' A year without an [[m|en|archon]].^(CGL 2021)^(LSJ 1940)

+ # The state of not holding office.^(LSJ 1940)^(DGE)

+ # ''(medicine)'' A disorder of the body.^(DGE)

+ # ''(theology)'' The denial of a first principle.^(DGE)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[ἄναρχος|tr=ánarkhos]]

+ * [[ἀρχός|tr=arkhós]]

+ * [[ἀρχή|tr=arkhḗ]]

+ * [[en|anarchy]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}