Non-elected Rulers

Paper Summary:

The paper closely examines the words 'king' and tyrant' that were used for a ruler in European countries as well as 'sultan' and 'rajah' that were the names used in Turkey and Asian countries. The paper shows how although the four words all mean a non-elected ruler, each word has different origins and has undergone different semantic changes.

From the Paper:

"For thousands years ago, there had always been non-elected rulers of peoples throughout the world. Even in today, kings and queens still exist and rule in some countries such as the United Kingdom, Spain and Sweden. These monarchs symbolize the countries' glorious history where nobility and being "blue-blooded" were icons of superiority. Although today's kings and queens hardly have any power over their nations except for few Arab and Asian countries, most rulers throughout history had undeniable power over their people and the vestiges of ancient civilizations reflect that power (ex. the Tomb of Pharaoh). The rulers were sometimes thought to be gods or to have powers only gods may have. In different regions, cultures and times, the names used for the concept "rulers" vary and their meanings differ slightly. Further, the words used to describe those rulers experienced different semantic changes. King, tyrant, sultan and rajah are examples of these."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Answers Corporation. 2008. 24 Apr. 2008. < http://www.answers.com/sultan>.
• Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary. Nov. 2001. 24 Apr. 2008. <http://www.etymonline.com/index.php>.
• Lendering, Jona. "Tyrant." Livius, Articles on Ancient History. 31 Mar. 2006. 24 Apr. 2008. <http://www.livius.org/tt-tz/tyrant/tyrant.html>.
• Lexico Publishing Group. Dictionary.com. 2008. 24 Apr. 2008. <http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/rajah>.
• Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. 2008. 24 Apr. 2008. <http://www.merriam-webster.com>.

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