Etymology: In Old English < post-classical Latin patriarcha (see below); subsequently reinforced by Anglo-Norman and Old French, Middle French patriarche (also in Anglo-Norman as patriarc , patriarch , patriarke , and in Old French as patriarce ) title of the bishop of any of the chief sees of the ancient world (c1100 in Old French, earliest referring to the bishop of Jerusalem), head of an ancient Israelite tribe before Moses (c1170), venerable and respected old man (1456 in an apparently isolated attestation in Middle French; subsequently from 1672; French patriarche ) < post-classical Latin patriarcha (also patriarches ) chief or head of a family or tribe (Vetus Latina, late 2nd or early 3rd cent. in Tertullian), title of the bishop of any of the chief sees of the ancient world (4th cent.), leading bishop (6th cent.) < Hellenistic Greek πατριάρχης chief or head of a family or tribe (Septuagint: see note at sense 2a), in Byzantine Greek also title of the bishop of any of the chief sees of the ancient world (5th cent.) < ancient Greek πατριά clan, lineage, in Hellenistic Greek also family ( < πατρ- , πατήρ father (see father n.) + -ία -ia suffix¹) + -αρχης -arch comb. form¹. Compare Spanish patriarca (1220–50), Italian patriarca (a1292), Portuguese patriarca (13th cent. as †patriarcha), Catalan patriarca (14th cent.), Old Occitan patriarcha (13th–14th cent.). The Latin word was also borrowed into other European languages; compare Old Frisian patriarcha, Middle Dutch patriarch, patriarck, patriarke (Dutch patriarch), Middle Low German patriarche, Middle High German patriarch, patriarche, patriarke (German Patriarch), Old Swedish patriarcha (Swedish patriark).In sense 6 rendering Hebrew nāśī' prince, chief. The usual word in Old English (chiefly in sense 2a) is hēahfæder (compare high adj. and n.² Compounds 1c).

Etymology: < patriarch n.