phylarch
phylarch f<e>i;lark. Also 7-8 phil-. ad. L. phylarchus, a. Gr. fularxoj chief of a tribe, f. fulh tribe + -arxoj, f. arxein to
rule. Cf. Fr. phylarque.1. The chief or ruler of a phyle or tribe in ancient Greece; hence, a tribal chief generally.
- 1656 J. Harrington Oceana (1658) 56 Moses chose able men.., and ma
de them heads over the people; (Tribunes..or Phylarches, that is) Princes of the Tribes.
- 1659 J. Harrington Law-giving ii. ii. (1700) 400 These Degrees were of two sorts; first, Phylarchs or Princes of Tribes; and secondly
, Patriarchs, or Princes of Familys.
- 1728 Morgan Algiers I. iii. 32 One of the Numidian petty Princes, called by Greek Authors Philarchs, and by the Arabs &c. Sheikhs;
- 1861 W. Muir Mahomet Introd. 183 Th
e Romans recognized as kings or phylarchs of the Syrian Arabs the chiefs of the Bani Salih.
2. In ancient Attica, An officer elected to command the cavalry of each of the ten phylæ;
- 1830 tr
. Aristoph., Birds 214 Diitrephes, with only wicker wings, was chosen Phylarch,-next, Hipparch.
- 1846 Grote Greece ii. viii. II. 607 The tribe appears to have been the only military classification known to Athens, an
d the taxiarch the only tribe officer for infantry, as the phylarch was for cavalry, under the general-in-chief.
3. The title given to certain magistrates in the ideal commonwealths of Plato, More, etc.; in Harringto
n's Oceana given to the magisterial body.
- 1551 Robinson tr. More's Utopia ii. iii. (1895) 135 Euerye thyrty families or fermes chewse them yearlye an offycer, whyche in their olde language is called the Syphogra
unte, and by a newer name the Phylarche [phylarchum].
- 1656 J. Harrington Oceana (1658) 76 All and every one of these Magistrates, together with the Justices of Peace: and the Jury-men of the Hundreds,..are the Prerogative Tr
oop or Phylarch of the Tribe.
- 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. iii. I. 407 During twenty years the chief employment of busy and ingenious men had been to frame constitutions..All the nomenclature..of the imaginary government was fully set
forth,..Phylarchs, Tribes [etc.].
Hence phylarchic
phy'larchic, phylarch-archical
-'archical adjs., of or pertaining to phylarchs or to tribal government; consisting in t
he rule of great families; phylarchy
'phylarchy, the office of a phylarch, tribal government.
- 1819 Blackw. Mag. V. 640 Feelings of decent reverence for the old *phylarchic aristocracie
s of England.
- 1861 W. Muir Mahomet I. Introd. 146 The national tradition and poetry of the Arabs,..with respect to genealogical and *phylarchical events.
- 1728 Earbery tr. Burnet's St. Dead<
/i> II. 56 The twelve Apostles and the twelve patriarchs joined together, or the *phylarchies of the Jews.
- 1869 Pall Mall G. 9 July 11 A Bedawin phylarchy, in which the chief is the political and religious ruler of the nation.