[Ansteorra] "Autocrat" (was: found keys at BG30)
Jay Rudin
rudin at peoplepc.com
Sun Oct 25 20:08:12 PDT 2009
>>> But "autocrat" is a perfectly valid word, not something made up. (Although
>>> it's post-period; the Oxford English Dictionary only dates it to 1803.)
True, but it dates many versions to the eighteenth century, and one form back to the middle of the seventeenth.
>>Maybe it's post period in English, but to me it's a perfectly good
>>Anglicization of the period word Autokrator, which is the Greek
>>translation of the Latin title Imperator. Literally, 'self-ruler' or
>>'one who rules alone'.
True, but we don't speak Greek. More importantly, using a Greek word that means "one who rules alone" for the person who sets up the event where the Crown or Baron / Baroness rules isn't a transliteration -- it's a falsehood.
>Interesting. I'm a little surprised that the OED didn't mention the
>earlier roots.
It does, of course. The French and Greek roots are clearly described. But it remains the Oxford *English* Dictionary, and correctly lists the first written use of "autocrat" in English yet found as 1803.
It also gives shows:
autocracy 1655
autocratical 1801
autocrator 1789-96
autocratoric 1678
autocratress 1762
autocratrice 1767
autocratrix 1762
Robin of Gilwell / Jay Rudin
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