Dictionary

mysteriarch en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /mɪsˈtɪəɹiˌɑː(ɹ)k/

Etymology

Borrowed from Ecclesiastical Latin mystēriarchēs (“one who presides over Christian sacraments”), from Ancient Greek μυστηριάρχης (mustēriárkhēs, “one who rules over religious mysteries”), from μυστήριον (mustḗrion) + -άρχης (-árkhēs), corresponding to mystery + -arch.

Meanings

1. (qualifier:obsolete outside of fantasy) One who rules over mysteries.
   • It cannot be said that the place ever adequately gratified the sense of mystery it excited; but, after all, to excite the sense of mystery is perhaps better than to gratify it, and, considering its poor material, this room was quite a clever old mysteriarch. 1899, Richard Le Gallienne, Young Lives:

Forms