From a compound of epi and archo (meaning a governor of a district, "eparch"); a special region of government, i.e. A Roman pr?Fecture -- province.
see GREEK epi
see GREEK archo
STRONGS NT 1885: ἐπαρχίᾳἐπαρχίᾳ ἐπαρχεία T WH (see εἰ, ἰ)), ἐπαρχίας, ἡ (from ἔπαρχος i. e. ὁ ἐπ' ἀρχή ὤν the one in command, prefect, governor), prefecture; i. e.
1. the office of ἔπαρχος or prefect.
2. the region subject to a prefect; a province of the Roman empire, either a larger province, or an appendage to a larger province, as Palestine was to that of Syria (cf. Schürer, Zeitgesch., p. 144ff): Acts 23:34; Acts 25:1 (see the preceding word); (Polybius, Diodorus, Plutarch, Dio Cass.). Cf. Krebs, Observations, etc., p. 256ff; Fischer, De vitiis Lexicons of the N. T., p. 432ff; (BB. DD. (especially Kitto) under the word