Politics & SocietyGreek → English
Hierocracy
/ˌhaɪəˈrɒkrəsi/noun
Government by priests or by a religious hierarchy.
The Greek roots
ἱερός
hierós
sacred
κράτος
krátos
power, rule
Literally: “rule by the sacred”
The story of the word
A hierocracy is distinguished from a theocracy by who actually holds the office: in a theocracy God rules, in a hierocracy the clergy do. English took the word in the seventeenth century, when the question was neither abstract nor foreign. ἱερός covers anything set apart for a god, which is why hieroglyph means sacred carving and hierarchy first named a ranking of angels rather than of managers.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → English
- First recorded
- 17th century
Same family
hierarchyhieroglyphdemocracyautocracy
In a sentence
He called the reformed council a hierocracy in all but name.
The pamphlet warns against hierocracy with the energy of a man who has met a bishop.