ARCHEE the source and the origin

The Source and the Power ΆΡΧΗ

In Latin the Gospel of John begins with the famous statement

In principio verbum erat

But this is a Latin translation from Greek.

Here's Verse 1 of St John's Gospel in Greek

1. Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος, καὶ ὁ λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν θεόν, καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος.

Ἀρχῇ is the dative form of ἡ Ἀρχὴ the beginning or source.

The word first appears in Greek in Homer's Odyssey and then Pindar's Odes.

This word has another meaning of being a source of origin of a flow of power and so we see it used as a suffix or prefix as – archos – arch(ee) and – arch(y) in English.

A good example especially given the Diamond Jubilee this week would be Monarch and Monarchy, two words with Greek origins that have become thoroughly established in English.

Rather like the Force in Star Wars or the Tao in Chinese?

You will see it used with a sense very similar to this if you read some Neoplatonists and Christian orthodox mystics and theologians writing in Greek.

IN French it becomes – arce, Italian arce and arci, Spanish arce, and German erz and I have seen it borrowed inot other languages with a spelling of - arky.

Don't forget there is a verb - ἄρχω

Hellas Throne of the Gods

HELLAS THRONE OF THE GODS

Hellas and Hellene have a common origin probably in a very ancient word archaic even in the Classical era and the word probably meant “Throne” used to a way similar to the English and particularly the British usage of CROWN to imply legal authority.

Looking up Hellen and Hellenist in the BIG full size Liddell and Scott I came across several interesting references.

The η in Hellen Ἕλλην has a α in Dorian leading to a usage of Ἑλλάννιος where most Greek dialects use Ἕλληνικός the adjective derived from the name of Hellen son of Deucalion ancestor of the Hellen tribe who lived in Thessaly first mentioned by Homer in the Iliad in the area around Dodona then called Hellas Ἑλλάς.

Hesiod Herodotus Aeschylus and Euripides all referred to Greeks as Hellenes.

Liddell and Scott also mentions a rare word in the Laconian dialect of Dorian Greek ἡ ἑλλά which was a kind of chair and also mention a fragment of a Hellenistic historian Idomeneus who said that the word was also used in Dodona to refer to the seat of the god Zeus.

So Hellen founder of a city realm and tribe was perhaps the heir to the ?divine?  THRONE, what we might call a crown prince, and Hellenes may have originally been the “Crown” tribe, the princely ones, just as Wang means royal in Chinese but so many people have that family name now that it no longer implies royal descent though clearly marks you as a HAN?

This certainly makes as much or more sense than derived it as Sun Helios?