Politics & SocietyGreek → English
Monarchy
/ˈmɒnərki/noun
A state headed by a king or queen.
The Greek roots
μόνος
mónos
single, alone
ἀρχή
archḗ
rule, beginning
Literally: “rule by one”
The story of the word
Greeks separated the μόναρχος from the τύραννος by how the power was got, not by how it was used: a monarch inherited or was granted it, a tyrant seized it, and a tyrant could be popular. Herodotus stages a debate among Persian nobles on monarchy, oligarchy and democracy that is the earliest surviving comparison of constitutions. ἀρχή means both rule and beginning, which is how archaeology and anarchy come out of the same word.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → Old French → English
- First recorded
- 14th century
The same roots elsewhere
Other languages reached for exactly the same Greek pieces.
Same family
anarchyoligarchyhierarchymonopolymonk
In a sentence
The monarchy survived the referendum by four points.
She wrote a short history of elective monarchy in Poland.