Politics & SocietyGreek → English
Oligarch
/ˈɒlɪɡɑːk/noun
A member of a small group holding power, usually through wealth.
The Greek roots
ὀλίγος
olígos
few, little
ἄρχειν
árchein
to rule
Literally: “one of the few who rule”
The story of the word
Aristotle argued in the Politics that the mark of oligarchy is not the number of rulers but their money: rule by the rich, who happen to be few. English had oligarchy from the fifteenth century as a term of political theory, and it stayed dry until the 1990s, when journalists applied oligarch to the men who bought up post-Soviet industry. The second half is the same element as monarch, anarchy and architect.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → French → English
- First recorded
- 17th century
Same family
oligarchymonarchanarchyoligopoly
In a sentence
Three oligarchs controlled most of the country's aluminium.