archon

From Ancient Greek ἄρχων (árkhōn), a noun use of the present participle of ἄρχω (árkhō, “to rule”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈɑː(ɹ)kən/

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archon (plural archontes or archons)

1. A chief magistrate of ancient Athens.
   • 1980, Burgess, Earthly Powers:

     Hated by the archons of Athens for his fearless condemnation of municipal graft, he was hypocritically arraigned on a charge of corrupting Athenian youth.

2. A person who claims the right to rule, or to exercise power or sovereign authority over other human beings.
3. A ruler, head of state or other leader.
   • 1922, James Joyce, Ulysses:

     But neither the midwife’s lore nor the caudlectures saved him from the archons of Sinn Fein and their noggin of hemlock.

4. (Gnosticism) A supernatural being subordinate to the Demiurge.
   • 1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 83:

     Their claim to totality is like the cry of the archon Ialdabaoth that he was the Lord of the Universe and that there was nothing beyond him.

• archaeo-
• archaic
• archaism
• archeo-
• archive
• -archy

• “archon”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “archon”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “archon”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

• Anchor, Charon, achorn, anchor, noarch, rancho

From Ancient Greek ἄρχων (árkhōn).

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈar.kʰoːn/, [ˈärkʰoːn]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈar.kon/, [ˈärkon]

archōn m (genitive archontis); third declension

1. archon

Third-declension noun.

• Catalan: arcont
• French: archonte
• Italian: arconte
• Portuguese: arconte
• Romanian: arhonte
• Spanish: arconte

• “archon”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “archon”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• archon in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• archon in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “archon”, in The Perseus Project (1999) Perseus Encyclopedia‎^[1]
• “archon”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “archon”, in William Smith, editor (1848), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray
• “archon”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin