king

head

king (nominative plural kinges, also the early forms kingas or kingæs)

kinges (nominative plural)
the early forms kingas (also)
kingæs (also)

English: king (see there for further descendants)

Scots: keeng, king

Yola: kinge, king

Inherited from the Old English cyning, from Proto-West Germanic *kuning, from Proto-Germanic *kuningaz. The forms kug (attested in the compounds kugdom, kuglond, and kugriche) and gug (attested in the compound guglond) show the influence of the Old Norse konungr, whence they borrow their root vowel. The early forms featuring syncope (chinge, chinȝ, cing, and cinȝ) may have long ī.


lord

From Old English hlāford, hlāfweard, in turn from hlāf (“bread, loaf”) + weard (“ward, guardian, keeper”).

c. 1400, Lay Folks Mass, Bk. App. iii. 125

(please add an English translation of this quotation)

(Christianity) Lord: Jesus Christ, God the Son


chef

English: chief (see there for further descendants)

Scots: chief

From Old French chief, from Latin caput.

A leader, boss, or director; a chief official; one in charge.


chef

chef (plural and weak singular cheve, comparative chever, superlative chevest)

cheve (plural)
cheve (singular weak)
chever (comparative)
chevest (superlative)

English: chief

Scots: chief

Chief, head, top-ranking, executive; being in ultimate control.

High-quality, outstanding, notable, worthy; deserving recognition.


duk

English: duke

Scots: duik, duke

→ Breton: duk

→ Cornish: duk

→ Irish: diúc

→ Manx: duic

→ Scottish Gaelic: diùc

→ Welsh: dug

Borrowed from Old French duc, from Latin dux.

ſe an ƿæſ ᵹehaten petruſ · he ƿæſ munec of clunni ·⁊ ƿeaſ boren of þa ricceſte men of rome · mid him helden ða of rome ·⁊ ſe duc of ſicilie ·

p. 1154, “AD 1129”, in Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (MS. Laud Misc. 636, continuation), Peterborough, folio 87, verso; republished at Oxford: Digital Bodleian, 2018 February 8:

One was called Peter; he was a monk from Cluny who was descended from Rome's most powerful men. The people of Rome and the duke of Sicily sided with him.


quene

English: queen (see there for further descendants)

Scots: queen, wheen

Yola: queen

From Old English cwēn (“woman, wife, queen”) (the final schwa is by analogy with other Old English feminine nouns, such as Etymology 2), from Proto-West Germanic *kwāni, from Proto-Germanic *kwēniz, from a derivative of *gʷḗn (“woman, wife”). Cognates include:
* Ancient Greek γυνή (gunḗ), Greek γυναίκα (gynaíka)
* Old Prussian genna
* Persian زَن (zan)
* Sanskrit जनि (jani)
* Proto-Slavic *žena


soudan

English: soldan

Scots: sowdian

From Old French soudan, from Arabic سُلْطَان (sulṭān).

A sultan (especially one of the rulers of major Muslim states in the Middle Ages).


emperour

English: emperor

Scots: emperor

Borrowed from Old French empereor, from Latin imperātorem.


potentat

English: potentate

Borrowed from Old French potentat, from Latin potentātus.


governour

English: governor (see there for further descendants)

Scots: governour

Yola: governere

Borrowed from Old French gouvreneur, governeor, from Latin gubernātor; equivalent to governen + -our.

An administrator or leader; one who heads and/or manages a group of people.

A ruler; one who rules (either supreme or deputy).

An executive or director; one who is in charge of an institution.

A general; one who leads a military force on the battlefield.

One who manages, leads, or supervises a household or mansion.

foꝛwhi ftryuynge is not to us aȝenes fleiſch ⁊ blood .· but aȝenes þe pꝛincis ⁊ poteſtatis aȝenes gouernours of þe woꝛld of þeſe derkneſſis / aȝens ſpiritual þingis of wickidneſſe, in heuenli thingis

c. 1395, John Wycliffe, John Purvey [et al.], transl., Bible (Wycliffite Bible (later version), MS Lich 10.), published c. 1410, Epheſianes 6:12, page 77r, column 2; republished as Wycliffe's translation of the New Testament, Lichfield: Bill Endres, 2010:

Because for us, striving isn't [just] against flesh and blood, but against princes and potentates, the rulers of these darknesses' world, and the sources of spiritual wickedness in heavenly places.

Someone who protects, safeguards, or acts as a guardian (used of God or people).

A helmsman; a person who guides or directs a seafaring vessel.

(physiology, rare) A body part which controls other body parts.


kayser

enm-noun

kayser (plural kayseres, dative kaysere)

⇒ English: Kaiser, kaiser

→ Scots: Kaiser

Borrowed from Old High German keisar, from Proto-West Germanic *kaisar, from Proto-Germanic *kaisaraz, from Latin Caesar. Doublet of casere.

An emperor (the ruler of an empire; a supreme ruler)


emperice

English: empress

Scots: empress

Borrowed from Anglo-Norman empereiz, contraction of empereriz, from Latin imperatrix; equivalent to emperour + -esse. Final -e is apparently by analogy with other feminine nouns, as the borrowing was early enough for the Middle English gender system to survive.

‘Your blisful suster, Lucina the shene,
That of the see is chief goddesse and quene,

late 14th century, Geoffrey Chaucer, The Franklin's Tale, The Canterbury Tales, line 1045-1048

Yet emperesse aboven him is she:’ [...]
‘Your blissful sister, Lucina the bright,
Who of the sea is chief goddess and queen,
Though Neptune have godly dominion in the sea,
Yet empress above him is she:’ …

An empress; a female ruler of an empire.


tyraunt

English: tyrant

Scots: tirran, tarran

From Old French tirant, tyrant, tiran, from Latin tyrannus, from Ancient Greek τύραννος (túrannos).

To hom þat wolde is wille do debonere he was & milde & to hom þat wiþsede strong tirant & wilde.

1297, Robert of Gloucester, Chronicle, published 7689:

Princes, þat is,... tirauntis of þis warld.

c. 1340, Richard Rolle, Psalter, XXXII 10:

c. 1374, Geoffrey Chaucer translating Boëthius, De Consolatione Philosophiæ, III v 59

1382, Wycliffe's Bible, Dan. 1:3

The sonys of Yrael, and of the kyngus bloode, and the children of tyrauntis.

An absolute monarch; one who rules in despotism.


potestat

English: potestate (obsolete)

Borrowed from Old French potestat, from Latin potestās, potestātem. Doublet of pouste.

Whilom / ther was an Irous poteſtat / As seith Senek that durynge his eſtat / vp on a day / out ryden knyghtes two[…]

1387–1400, [Geoffrey] Chaucer, “The Somnours Tale”, in The Tales of Caunt́bury (Hengwrt Chaucer; Peniarth Manuscript 392D), Aberystwyth, Ceredigion: National Library of Wales, published [c. 1400–1410], →OCLC, folio 81, recto:

Once there was an irate potentate, / as Seneca says, and during his rule, / two knights rode out one day […]

foꝛwhi ftryuynge is not to us aȝenes fleiſch ⁊ blood .· but aȝenes þe pꝛincis ⁊ poteſtatis, aȝenes gouernours of þe woꝛld of þeſe derkneſſis / aȝens ſpiritual þingis of wickidneſſe, in heuenli thingis

A powerful individual; a ruler or potentate.


reuler

English: ruler

Scots: reular


casere

Middle Scots: casar, casere, cazard

Inherited from Old English cāsere, alteration of earlier cāser, from Proto-West Germanic *kaisar, from Proto-Germanic *kaisaraz, from Latin Caesar. Doublet of kayser.

Holy Roman Empire
Holy Roman Empire#English

(Northern or Early Middle English) An emperor (of Rome or the Holy Roman Empire)


cheveteyn

English: chieftain

Scots: chieftain

Borrowed from Old French chevetaine, from Late Latin capitaneus. Doublet of capitain.

A head, chief or boss; any sort of person at the top of a hierarchy.


capitain

English: captain (see there for further descendants)

Scots: caiptain

Borrowed from Old French capitaine, itself borrowed from Late Latin capitāneus. Doublet of cheveteyn.

The head of a military force; a general or marshal.

Thyꝛwall þ[at] was þ[air] capitain / Wes þ[air] in þe baꝛgain slain / ⁊ off his men þe maſt p[ar]ty / Ϸe laue fled full affrayitly

c. 1375, “Book VI”, in Iohne Barbour, De geſtis bellis et uirtutibus domini Roberti de Brwyß […] (The Brus, Advocates MS. 19.2.2), Ouchtirmunſye: Iohannes Ramſay, published 1489, folio 21, recto, lines 431-434; republished at Edinburgh: National Library of Scotland, c. 2010:

Thirlwall, who was their commander / was killed there in the struggle / with the greatest part of his men; / the rest fled very frightened.

An officer; one who commands part of an army.

(rare) The leader of a nation or a political division; a high-ranking administrator.

(rare) One who leads military forces at sea.


sovereyn

English: sovereign

Scots: sovereign

Yola: zouvereine, zovereine

From Old French soverain, from Vulgar Latin *superānus.

One's superior or boss; one who one answers to:

A member of local government; a municipal administrator.

(rare) Those who preceded or came before.


mageste

English: majesty

Scots: maijesty

Borrowed from Old French majesté, from Latin māiestās.

That which befits a monarch; majesty, might, power, formality.


comaundour

English: commander

From Old French comandeor; equivalent to comaunden + -our.


senyour

English: seignior

From Old French seignor, from Latin senior. Doublet of sire.

A respectful term of address for a noble.