gymnasiarch

American  

[jim-ney-zee-ahrk] / dʒɪmˈneɪ ziˌɑrk /

noun

1. (in ancient Greece) a magistrate who superintended the gymnasia and public games in certain cities.

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gymnasiarch British  

/ dʒɪmˈneɪzɪˌɑːk /

noun

1. (in ancient Greece) an official who supervised athletic schools and contests

2. obsolete the governor or chief tutor of an academy or college

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Other Word Forms

• gymnasiarchy noun

Etymology

Origin of gymnasiarch

1650–60; < Latin gymnasiarchus master of a gymnasium < Greek gymnasíarchos, equivalent to gymnási ( on ) ( see gymnasium ¹) + -archos -arch

Example Sentences

He came out in 1866 a clerk and a gymnasiarch rolled in one, and was appointed to the pastoral charge of Hernialde, a cluster of houses near Tolosa.

From Romantic Spain A Record of Personal Experiences (Vol. I) by O'Shea, John Augustus

Antony did not limit to Alexandria his performance of the functions of gymnasiarch.

From Dio's Rome, Volume 3 An Historical Narrative Originally Composed in Greek During The Reigns of Septimius Severus, Geta and Caracalla, Macrinus, Elagabalus and Alexander Severus by Foster, Herbert Baldwin

There were three classes of officials in the gymnasia; the director or magistrate called the gymnasiarch, the sub-director or gymnast, and the subordinates.

From Outlines of Greek and Roman Medicine by Elliott, James Sands

We have already seen that adults were not supposed to enter the pal�stra; and the penalty for the infringement of this rule by the gymnasiarch was death.

From A Problem in Greek Ethics Being an inquiry into the phenomenon of sexual inversion by Symonds, John Addington

Let no one think that he was ever consul or imperator, but only gymnasiarch.

From Dio's Rome, Volume 3 An Historical Narrative Originally Composed in Greek During The Reigns of Septimius Severus, Geta and Caracalla, Macrinus, Elagabalus and Alexander Severus by Foster, Herbert Baldwin