prytane

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek πρύτανις (prútanis).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɹaɪˈteɪn/

Noun

prytane (plural prytanes)

1. The priest or chief magistrate who presided over a prytaneum.
   • 1915, Albert Kocourek, John Henry Wigmore, Primitive and Ancient Legal Institutions:

     This priest of the public hearth bore the name of king. Sometimes they gave him other titles. As he was especially the priest of the prytaneum, the Greeks preferred to call him the prytane; sometimes they also called him the archon.

   • 1962, William Herbert Desmonde, Magic, Myth, and Money:

     The priest of the city hearth was called "king", "prytane", or "archon". The term "prytane" was derived from the fact that he was the priest of the prytaneum, or local hearth.

2. A board of magistrates presiding over a prytaneum.

Anagrams

• Paynter, preyant

French

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

prytane m (plural prytanes)

1. prytane

Further reading

• “prytane”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.