DESPOT (Gr. Sc-va6rgs,

See also:

• LORD
• LORD (O. Eng. hldford, i.e. hldfweard, the warder or keeper of bread, hlIf, loaf; the word is not represented in any other Teutonic language)
• LORD, JOHN (1810-1894)

lord or

See also:

• MASTER (Lat. magister, related to tnagis, more, as the corresponding minister is to minus, less; the English form is due partly to the O. Eng. maegister, and partly to O. Fr. maistre, mod. maitre; cf. Du. meester, Ger. Meister, Ital. maestro)

master; the origin of the first

See also:

• PART

part of the Gr. word is unknown, the second part is cognate with rbvcs,

See also:

• HUSBAND

husband,

See also:

• LAT

Lat. potens, powerful)  , in Greek usage the master of a household, hence the ruler of slaves . It was also used by the Greeks of their gods, as was the feminine form & rou'a . It was, however, principally applied by the Greeks to the absolute monarchs of the eastern empires with which they came in contact; and it is in this sense that the word, like its equivalent " tyrant," is in current usage for an absolute sovereign whose rule is not restricted by any constitution . In the Roman empire of the East " despot " was early used as a title of honour or address of the emperor, and was given by Alexius I . (ro81–1118) to the sons, brothers and sons-in-law of the emperor (Gibbon, Decline and Fall, ed . Bury, vol. vi . 8o) . It does not seem that the title was confined to the heir-apparent by Alexius II . (see Selden, Titles of Honour, part ii. chap. i. s. vi.) . Later still it was adopted by the vassal princes of the empire . This gave rise to the name "despotats " as applied to these tributary states, which survived the break-up of the empire in the independent " despotats " of Epirus, Cyprus, Trebizond, &c . Under Ottoman rule the title was preserved by the despots of Servia and of the Morea, &c .

The early use of the

term as a title of address for ecclesiastical dignitaries survives in its use in the Greek Church as the formal mode of addressing a bishop .