despot: [16] The ultimate source of despot is Greek despótēs ‘lord’. It is related to Sanskrit dampati ‘master of the house’, and both probably go back to an Indo-European compound formed from *domo- ‘house’ (source of Latin domus ‘house’, and hence of English domestic) and another element related to Latin potis ‘able’ and English power. (Latin dominus ‘lord’, a derivative of domus ‘house’ and originally meaning ‘master of the house’, is a semantically parallel formation.) Greek despótēs was used for ‘lord, master’ or ‘ruler’ in various contexts, with no particular pejorative connotation (in modern Greek it means ‘bishop’).
But most rulers in ancient times enjoyed absolute power, and so eventually the word (which entered English via medieval Latin despota and early modern French despot) came to mean ‘tyrannical ruler’; this sense became firmly established at the time of the French Revolution. => domestic, dominion
despot (n.)
1560s, "absolute ruler," from Old French despot (14c.), from Medieval Latin despota, from Greek despotes "master of a household, lord, absolute ruler," from PIE *dems-pota- "house-master;" for first element see domestic (adj.); second element cognate with Latin potis, potens (see potent).
Faintly pejorative in Greek, progressively more so as used in various languages for Roman emperors, Christian rulers of Ottoman provinces, and Louis XVI during the French Revolution. The female equivalent was despoina "lady, queen, mistress," source of the proper name Despina.
双语例句
1. The despot claimed to be the chosen instrument of divine providence.
专制者声称自己是上天选定的统治工具.
来自《简明英汉词典》
2. She rules her family like a real despot.
她治家简直像个暴君.
来自《简明英汉词典》
3. He was a despot with a heart of granite.
他是个铁石心肠的暴君.
来自辞典例句
4. He was a tyrant, a despot.
他是暴君, 一个专制的皇帝.
来自辞典例句
5. The local despot trenched on the temple's property.