oligarchic (adj.)

"最高权力掌握在少数独裁阶级手中的政府形式"，1570年代，源自14世纪的法语 oligarchie，源自希腊语 oligarkhia 的拉丁化形式，意为“少数人统治”，由 oligos 的词干（意为“少数，小，少许”，词源不明）和 -arkhia 组成，后者源自 arkhein “统治”（参见 archon）。英语中早期的形式是 oligracie（约1500年，源自古法语）。

Aristotle, after some preliminary remarks, concludes by defining a democracy to be, when the freemen and those not the rich, being the majority, possess the sovereign power; and an oligarchy, when the rich and those of noble birth, being few, are in possession of the sovereign power. This definition of an oligarchy necessarily implies that the majority are excluded from participating in the sovereign power. It might be inferred, on the other hand, that in this definition of a democracy the few are excluded from the sovereign power: and such in this passage should be the meaning of the author, if he is consistent with himself. ["Political Dictionary," London 1845]

亚里士多德在一些初步的评论之后，得出结论，民主是指自由人和非富人，即占多数的人拥有主权； 而寡头政治是指富人和贵族出身的人，即少数人拥有主权。这个寡头政治的定义必然意味着大多数人被排除在参与主权之外。另一方面，可以推断出，在这个民主的定义中，少数人被排除在主权之外：如果作者在这一段中保持一致，这应该是作者的意思。["政治词典"，伦敦1845年]