'autarch' originates from Greek, specifically the word 'αὐτάρχης' (autárchēs), where 'αὐτός' ('autos') meant 'self' and 'ἄρχων' ('archōn') meant 'ruler or leader'.

'autarch' passed into Late Latin/Medieval Latin as 'autarchus' and then into English with the sense of an independent or sovereign ruler; it is cognate with terms like 'autarchy' (self-rule).

Initially it denoted 'one who rules himself' or an independent ruler; over time it acquired the narrower modern senses of 'absolute ruler' or, by extension, 'advocate of economic self-sufficiency.'