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despot podcast

despot n. [DESS-putt]

暴君，专制者

Definition

a: a ruler with absolute power and authority
a：具有绝对权力与权威的统治者

b: one exercising power tyrannically : a person exercising absolute power in a brutal or oppressive way
b：实施残暴政策的人：实施残酷的或者压迫性的绝对权力的人
a: a Byzantine emperor or prince
a：拜占庭的国王或者王子

b: Christianity: a bishop or patriarch of the Eastern Orthodox Church
b：【基督教】东正教中的主教或者元老

c: an Italian hereditary prince or military leader during the Renaissance
c：文艺复兴时期的意大利血统的王子或者军事领袖

Did You Know?

In his 1755 dictionary, Samuel Johnson said of despot, “the word is not in use, except as applied to some Dacian prince; as the despot of Servia.” Indeed at that time, the word was mainly used to identify some very specific rulers or religious officials, and the title was an honorable one: it comes from a Greek word meaning “lord” or “master” and was originally applied to deities. That situation changed toward the end of the century, perhaps because French Revolutionists, who were said to have been “very liberal in conferring this title,” considered all sovereigns to be tyrannical. When democracy became all the rage, despot came to be used most often for any ruler who wielded absolute and often contemptuous and oppressive power.

词源词根演化：despot (来自于希腊语，“lord” or “master”)

对于despot这个词，1755年Samuel Johnson的英文字典里说道：“这个单词现在不再使用，除了用于指代一些Dacian王子；例如塞尔维亚的暴君。” 事实上，这个词在当时主要用于指代一些非常特定的统治者或者宗教领袖，也是一个受人尊敬的称呼：它来自于一个希腊语，意思是“load”或者“master”，最初用于神族。到了18世纪末的时候，情况发生了变化，可能是由于法国的革命分子们，据说他们“非常大方地接受了这个称号“，认为所有的统治者都是残暴的。当民主占据上风大行其道后，despot开始更常用地变成指代”实施绝对统治或者高压统治的领袖“。

注：Dacian：古国与罗马帝国的一个省，位于欧洲东南部，大致上相当于罗马尼亚和比萨拉比亚；Servia：即Serbia，塞尔维亚的旧称；wield：行使，施加，使用；contemptuous：轻视的，轻蔑的，瞧不起的

Examples

“We like to think that, in a tyrannizing world, the best and the bravest thing is to beat the despots down. The worst thing, though, is that you become a tyrant yourself.”
— Anthony Lane, The New Yorker, 24 July 2017
“Throughout the world, despots are … probably monitoring Internet traffic, communications and behavior — in many cases using surveillance technology supplied by U.S. and other Western companies.”
— Robert Morgus and Justing Sherman, The Washington Post, 17 Jan. 2019

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