Word Of The Week #149

[ajax]

Word Of The Week -- satrap
Definition: sa·trap (sā'trāp', sāt'rāp')
n.

1. A governor of a province under the ancient Persian monarchy.
2. A subordinate ruler, often a despotic one.

Etymology: [Middle English: satrape, from Old French, from Latin satrapēs, from Greek, from Old Persian khshathrapāvā, protector of the province: khshathra-, realm, province + pāvā, protector; see pā- in Indo-European roots.]

Obscurity: 75% (May have seen this once or twice, but have no clue what it means.)

Usefulness: 10% (Jargon word, not commonly used in casual conversation.)

Examples:
(def. 1) "Cyrus the Great was the first Persian ruler to divide his empire into provinces; twenty were created initially, each governed by a satrap."
(def. 2) "The character of Dwight on The Office is an example of the kind of bureaucratic satrap that has always been with us -- constantly seeking greater authority, and ruthlessly arbitrary in the exercise of that he already has."

Although the literal usage of satrap is largely obsolete, it appears now and then in news stories about the Middle East, which is where loyal reader manda_x recently discovered and suggested it. :)

The Wiki article on the term also contains two interesting modern uses of the word. The first is a modified version -- satrafa -- that appears in the Hungarian language, and refers to "old women, often mothers-in-law, who always quarrel and try to force their will on others."

The second use comes from the College of 'Pataphysics, founded in Paris in May of 1948. Reminiscent of the Dadaists, Discordians and the Church of the SubGenius, members of this college have included Marcel Duchamp, Jean Baudrillard and the Marx brothers, all of whom received the title Transcending Satrap.

--- Ajax.