Politics & SocietyGreek → English
Autocracy
/ɔːˈtɒkrəsi/noun
A system in which one person holds unlimited authority.
The Greek roots
αὐτός
autós
self
κράτος
krátos
power, strength
Literally: “self-power”
The story of the word
The Greek adjective autokratēs described a general sent out with full powers, free to decide without sending home for instructions. Byzantine emperors turned it into a title, and the Russian tsars translated that title into Slavonic as samoderzhets, self-holder. The -cracy half is the same power word in democracy, bureaucracy and plutocracy.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → French → English
- First recorded
- 17th century
The same roots elsewhere
Other languages reached for exactly the same Greek pieces.
Same family
autocratdemocracybureaucracyautonomy
In a sentence
Elections continued, but the country had slipped into autocracy years before.