Politics & SocietyGreek → English
Hegemony
/hɪˈdʒɛməni/noun
Dominance of one state or group over others, exercised more by influence than by force.
The Greek roots
ἡγεμονία
hēgemonía
leadership, supremacy
Literally: “the leading”
Follow a root:ἡγεμονία1 word
The story of the word
From hēgemōn, a leader or guide. Greek historians used hēgemonia for the position of the city that led an alliance, Sparta before the Persian wars and Athens after, and the point was that the other cities were nominally free. Gramsci gave the word its modern edge in the 1930s by applying it to culture: rule that works because the ruled accept it as ordinary.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → English
- First recorded
- 16th century
Same family
hegemonhegemonicexegesis
In a sentence
Their hegemony over the region rested on trade routes, not garrisons.