ἄναξ

• ϝάναξ (wánax) — Corinthian, Doric, Laconian
• ἀνακός (anakós) — unknown

From earlier ϝάναξ (wánax), ϝάνακος (wánakos). Cognate with Mycenaean Greek 𐀷𐀙𐀏 (wa-na-ka) as well as Phrygian ουανακταν (ouanaktan /⁠wanaktan⁠/), Old Phrygian ϝανακτει (vanaktei), which may be an early loan from Greek^[1] or from a common third source.

The further origin is unknown, but likely a borrowing from a Pre-Greek substrate language, compare Aquitanian andox.^[1] Various alternative Indo-European etymologies have been proposed, including:

• Cognate with Tocharian A nātäk (“lord”) (female counterpart nāśi (“queen”); cf. ᾰ̓́νασσᾰ (ánassa)), from a Proto-Indo-European *w(n̥)nákts (“lord”).^[2]
• Cognate with Sanskrit वणिज् (vaṇíj, “merchant, businessman”, an epithet of Indra in Vedic texts) from a Proto-Indo-European compound *wn̥-h₂eǵ-(t)- composed of *wenh₁- (“to strive”) + *h₂eǵ- (“to drive, lead”).^[3]

ἄνᾰξ • (ánax) m (genitive ἄνᾰκτος); third declension

1. lord, king
   1. (of men)
      • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 1.442–443:

        ὦ Χρύση, πρό μ’ ἔπεμψεν ἄναξ ἀνδρῶν Ἀγαμέμνων
        παῖδά τε σοὶ ἀγέμεν

        ô Khrúsē, pró m’ épempsen ánax andrôn Agamémnōn
        paîdá te soì agémen

        Chryses, Agamemnon, king of men, sent me forth
        to bring to you your daughter.

   2. (of gods, often Apollo and Zeus)
      • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 3.351:

        Ζεῦ ἄνα δὸς τῑ́σασθαι ὅ με πρότερος κάκ’ ἔοργε
        δῖον Ἀλέξανδρον, καὶ ἐμῇς ὑπὸ χερσὶ δάμασσον

        Zeû ána dòs tī́sasthai hó me próteros kák’ éorge
        dîon Aléxandron, kaì emêis hupò khersì dámasson

        O Lord Zeus, grant me to punish the man who first has done me wrong,
        noble Alexander, and beat him down under my hands

      • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Homeric Hymn to Apollo 14–15:

        χαῖρε, μάκαιρ’ ὦ Λητοῖ, ἐπεὶ τέκες ἀγλαὰ τέκνα,
        Ᾱ̓πόλλωνά τ’ ἄνακτα καὶ Ἄρτεμιν ῑ̓οχέαιραν,

        khaîre, mákair’ ô Lētoî, epeì tékes aglaà tékna,
        Āpóllōná t’ ánakta kaì Ártemin īokhéairan,

        Rejoice, blessed Leto, since you have borne glorious children —
        the lord Apollo and Artemis strewer of arrows,

      • 458 BCE, Aeschylus, Agamemnon 513:

        νῦν δ’ αὖτε σωτὴρ ἴσθι καὶ παιώνιος,
        ἄναξ Ἄπολλον.

        nûn d’ aûte sōtḕr ísthi kaì paiṓnios,
        ánax Ápollon.

        But, in other mood, be our preserver and our healer,
        O lord Apollo.

2. master, owner
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 1.397–398:

     αὐτὰρ ἐγὼν οἴκοιο ἄναξ ἔσομ’ ἡμετέροιο
     καὶ δμώων, οὕς μοι ληίσσατο δῖος Ὀδυσσεύς.

     autàr egṑn oíkoio ánax ésom’ hēmetéroio
     kaì dmṓōn, hoús moi lēíssato dîos Odusseús.

     [Telemachus:] But I shall be lord of our own house
     and of the slaves that godlike Odysseus won for me."

• Often used to refer to Apollo. The vocative ᾰ̓́νᾰ (ána) is used only as an address to gods, for example in Ζεῦ ἄνα (Zeû ána, “O Zeus”).
• The vocative ἄναξ (ánax) can be combined with the vocative particle ὦ (ô) to form ὦναξ (ônax, “O lord”).

• (lord, master, king): ᾰ̓́νασσᾰ (ánassa, “queen”) (feminine), βᾰσῐλεύς (basileús), δεσπότης (despótēs), κοίρᾰνος (koíranos), κῡ́ρῐος (kū́rios), μεδέων (medéōn), μέδων (médōn), πρύτᾰνῐς (prútanis), τύραννος (túrannos)

• ᾰ̓́νασσᾰ (ánassa, “queen”)

• Greek: άναξ (ánax)
• → Translingual: Anax

• “ἄναξ”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “ἄναξ”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “ἄναξ”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• ἄναξ in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• ἄναξ in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• ἄναξ in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (2006–2024)
• “ἄναξ”, in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎^[1], London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • chief idem, page 129.
  • king idem, page 469.
  • lord idem, page 500.
  • master idem, page 517.
  • prince idem, page 641.
  • ruler idem, page 726.
• Anax on Wikipedia.Wikipedia