toparch

See also: Toparch

English

Alternative forms

Toparch, topark (all obsolete)

Etymology

From the Ancient Greek τοπάρχης (topárkhēs, “ruler of a small district”), from τόπος (tópos, “place”) +‎ -αρχης (-arkhēs, “ruler”). Compare the Latin toparcha and French toparque.

Pronunciation

(UK) IPA^(key): /ˈtɒpɑːk/
Audio (RP) (file)
Rhymes: -ɒpɑ(ɹ)k

Noun

toparch (plural toparchs)

The prince or ruler of a small district, city, or petty state; a petty "king".
- 1640, T[homas] F[uller], “A Comment on 1 Cor. XI. 18, &c.”, in Ioseph’s Partie-colored Coat: Containing, a Comment on Part of the 11. Chapter of the 1. Epistle of S. Paul to the Corinthians: […], London: […] Iohn Dawson, for Iohn Williams, […], OCLC 1171524891; republished as William Nichols, editor, Joseph’s Party-coloured Coat: […], London: William Tegg, 1867, OCLC 1069237610, page 16:
  [B]y those many kings mentioned in the Old Testament, "thirty and one" in the little land of Canaan, (Joshua xii. 24,) is meant only toparchs, not great kings, but lords of a little dition and dominion; […]
- 1646, Thomas Browne, chapter VIII, in Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], London: […] T[homas] H[arper] for Edward Dod, […], OCLC 1008551266, 7th book, page 353:
  Toparks, Kings of Cities or narrow territories, such as were the Kings of Sodome and Gomorrah, the Kings of Jericho and Ai.
- 1655, Thomas Fuller, “6ª Century”, in James Nichols, editor, The Church History of Britain, […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), new edition, London: […] [James Nichols] for Thomas Tegg and Son, […], published 1837, OCLC 913056315, book, pages 116–117:
  About the same time […] flourished Cadocus, abbot of Llancarvan in Glamorganshire, son of the prince and toparch of that country.
- 1737, William Whiston (translator), Flavius Josephus (author), Antiquities of the Jews, book XI, chapter iii, § 2:
  The toparchs of India and Ethiopia.
- 1852, Charlotte Mary Yonge, Cameos from English History (1877), volume I, chapter xxii, page 162:
  The top-arch, Turlogh O’Connor, was the friend of O’Rourke.

Derived terms

toparchical

Related terms

toparchy

Translations

ruler of a small district or petty state

Polish: toparcha m

References

NED X, part i (Ti–U; 1st ed., 1926), § 1 (Ti–Tz), page 149/1, “Toparch”

Anagrams

Caphtor, archtop