gerontocracy | Word of the Day

December 03, 2017 gerontocracy [jer-uh n-tok-ruh-see, jeer-] noun 1. a state or government in which old people rule. 2. government by a council of elders. word facts Arabic Words You Don't Know You're Using ways to say 'Tis the Season for Festive Holiday Phrases WORD OF THE DAY gerontocracy continued... QUOTES The French Restoration was a gerontocracy--the two kings of the era, Louis XVIII and Charles X, were both brothers of Louis XVI, guillotined in 1793, and old men by the time they ascended to the throne--out of touch with the youth of the country. -- Peter Brooks, "Introduction," The Human Comedy: Selected Stories by Honoré de Balzac (1799–1850), translated by Linda Asher, Carol Cosman, and Jordan M. Stump, 2014 ORIGIN The English noun gerontocracy is composed of two relatively common Greek elements: geront- ("old age") and the combining form -cracy (from the Greek combining form -kratia "rule, government"). Geront- is the stem of the noun gérōn "old, old man, elder" and derives from the Proto-Indo-European root gerǝ- "to become old." In Germanic the root appears in the noun karlaz "man," which further develops into Old Norse karl "man, old man, married man," Old English ceorl "man, freeman of the lowest class" (whence Modern English "churl"), and German Kerl "man, fellow, guy." The Greek combining form -kratia is a derivative of krátos "strength, might," from the Proto-Indo-European root ker-, kar- "hard," source of Germanic (English) "hard." Gerontocracy entered English in the 19th century. MORE FROM THE WEB OTHERS ARE READING 1 Our 2017 Word of the Year Is Complicit A reflection on words that impacted all of us this year. 2 History: Dictionary.com's Word of the Year To remember all of our past Word of the Year selections 3 This Quiz Could Be Macaronic Take your chance to scrimshank! 4 Better Than Bakemeat...Nosh On This Quiz! Restart your brain with the Word of the Day Quiz. 5 Turkey: A Bird or a Nation? Take a look at the word facts and history. © 2017 Dictionary.com, LLC. ABOUT CONTACT You are subscribed to the Word of the Day as: matzom229@gmail.com Subscriber since: September 06, 2017 Unsubscribe Dictionary.com, LLC. 555 12th Street Suite 500 Oakland CA 94607 Manage your subscription Terms & Privacy