“οἱ δὲ ὀφθαλμοὶ αὐτοῦ [ὡς] φλὸξ πυρός, καὶ ἐπὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν αὐτοῦ διαδήματα πολλά, ἔχων ὄνομα γεγραμμένον ὃ οὐδεὶς οἶδεν εἰ μὴ αὐτός […]
καὶ ἔχει ἐπὶ τὸ ἱμάτιον καὶ ἐπὶ τὸν μηρὸν αὐτοῦ ὄνομα γεγραμμένον· βασιλεὺς βασιλέων καὶ κύριος κυρίων.”
“His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crownes, and hee had a name written, that no man knew but he himselfe. […]
And he hath on his vesture, and on his thigh a name written, King Of Kings, And Lord Of Lords.”
—Revelation 19:12,16, The Bible, King James Version

There are lots of different words in English for leaders, reflecting millennia of different forms of leadership from many different cultures. In this short piece I want to think about the history of some of these terms and clarify how I use them, which will be helpful for writing and reading some of my other articles.

Leading words

Duke (Duchess)

A duke is now primarily a subordinate aristocrat, but in the past was a sovereign ruler. The word comes to us from Latin dux, a military general in the late Roman Empire, from the

Ordering words

Commander / Commander-in-Chief (CIC)

A commander is simply someone who issues commands, and thhis is the straightforward etymology going back to Latin commandare.

Emperor (Empress)