thearchy

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English

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Etymology

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From Ancient Greek θεαρχία (thearkhía), from θεός (theós, god) + -αρχία (-arkhía, rule, ruling).[1] By surface analysis, the- +‎ -archy.

Noun

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thearchy (countable and uncountable, plural thearchies)

  1. A government ruled by God or a god; a theocracy.
    • 1643, Subject of Supremacie, section 42:
      There ends Monarchy as a Thearchie, or divine dynastie.
    • 1643, Maximes Unfolded, section 8:
      Thearchie, or Gods Government in Families, a Nation, and all Nations.
    • 1863, G.J. Whyte-Melville, Gladiators, I 254:
      [The Jew's] belief in that direct thearchy, to which he was bound by the ties of gratitude.
  2. A system or ordering of deities. (Compare pantheon.)
    • 1852, P.J. Bailey, Festus, section 11:
      From rank to rank in Thearchy divine, We angel raylets gladden in thy sight.
    • 1876, W.E. Gladstone, Homeric Synchronism, section 245:
      Pan was one of the younger gods in the Hellenic thearchy.
    • 1899 December 1, Literary Guide, 178 1:
      When Jesus entered upon his ministry, the Olympian thearchy [] was already tottering to its fall.
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References

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  1. ^ Oxford English Dictionary. "Thearchy, n."

Anagrams

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