[ad. Gr. ἐθνάρχ-ης, f. ἔθν-ος nation + -αρχος ruler.] A governor of a nation or people; a ruler over a province.
a. 1641. Bp. Mountagu, Acts & Mon. (1642), 95. They [the Jews] had their Ethnarchs, Toparchs, high-Priests, Rulers, Princes, and sometime Kings of their owne.
1692. Washington, trans. Milton’s Def. Pop., iv. Cæsar … did not appoint a King over them [the Jews], but a Governour, whom they called an Ethnarch.
1778. Apthorp, Preval. Chr., 210. Julius Cesar … authorised Hyrcanus and his children to be ethnarchs of the Jews.
1879. C. Geikie, Christ, 30. Pompey set up Hyrcanus as high priest and ruler, under the title of ethnarch.
