"rule by old men," 1830, a Latinized compound of Greek stem of geron (genitive gerontos) "old man" (from PIE root *gere- (1) "to grow old") + kratia "rule" (see -cracy). Related: Gerontocratic.
Entries linking to gerontocracy
*gere- 1
*gerə-, Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to grow old." It forms all or part of: geriatric; geriatrics; gerontocracy; gerontology.
It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit jara "old age," jarati "makes frail, causes to age;" Avestan zaurvan "old age;" Greek geron "old man;" Ossetic zarond "old man;" Armenian cer "old, old man."
-cracy
word-forming element forming nouns meaning "rule or government by," from French -cratie or directly from Medieval Latin -cratia, from Greek -kratia "power, might; rule, sway; power over; a power, authority," from kratos "strength," from PIE *kre-tes- "power, strength," suffixed form of root *kar- "hard." The connective -o- has come to be viewed as part of it. Productive in English from c. 1800.