Satraps

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A provincial ruler who governed a region on behalf of the ancient Persian empire
2. An official appointed to administer a satrapy, or province, of the Persian empire
3. A regional governor managing territories within the realm of ancient Persia

Etymology: "Satraps" is the plural of "satrap," and the word's most striking feature is that it was a title of power before it was a word for a governor. Its Old Median form, reconstructed as "xšaθrapāvan," meant roughly "kingdom-protector," a compound of words for kingdom and protection. The same element survives in the Old Persian "xšaçapāvā," so the title belonged to the administrative language of the Persian empire itself rather than to a later outsider's description of it. Greek writers, who came into close contact with the Persian court, adopted the title as "satrapēs," and Latin then took it as "satrapēs" with the sense of "governor." The word reached Middle English as "satrape," and the English form "satrap" dropped the final vowel. Mostly it was used of the provincial rulers of the Achaemenid empire, but it could be applied to any powerful, often corrupt, local official, which is the sense that lingers in the modern noun.

Synonyms: governors, rulers