Wordnik.com: Take Me To Your Whosit: Comments

Comment by madmouth, 4 months ago

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 04:13:15 +0000

Alaafin; Apostolic Majesty; Chanyu; Orangun; Sapa Inca

Comment by bilby, 6 months ago

Fri, 15 May 2009 13:42:09 +0000

Thanks rol' & mad'.

Comment by rolig, 6 months ago

Fri, 15 May 2009 13:35:42 +0000

I might suggest a few from the Slavic side of things:
- vozhd (or Cyrillically, [вождь]), which is what adoring fans called Stalin; like Führer, it means "leader", but unlike the German word, it really is reserved for the Great Leader.
- vojvoda or vojevoda or voyevoda (or more Englishy, voivode), the Slavic "duke" (lit., "war-leader" or "warlord") and the origin of the toponym Vojvodina.
– vladika, the title of the Prince-Bishop of the Principality of Montenegro.
– you have tsar, but what about the tsarina (I'm assuming you are eschewing the unchewable cz- spellings).

And a couple obvious ones from across the Adriatic that seem to have escaped: il Duce (last seen in Salò) and the doge, in the company of Mrs. Doge, a.k.a. the dogaress or in Venetian, dogaressa, both fleeing incognito in a gondola.

Comment by bilby, 6 months ago

Fri, 15 May 2009 12:19:05 +0000

My, how industrious :-)

Comment by madmouth, 6 months ago

Fri, 15 May 2009 05:53:56 +0000

I've culled some from Wiki's list of royal titles (my 2nd link): Khatun (a female Khan), Aryamehr ("light of the Aryans"), Princeps (the official title of a Roman emperor), Bretwalda (an obscure Anglo-Saxon leadership title), and Basileus (a title for a Byzantine emperor).

Comment by bilby, 6 months ago

Fri, 15 May 2009 05:21:56 +0000

A good 'un.

Comment by madmouth, 6 months ago

Fri, 15 May 2009 04:56:59 +0000

khagan (see here...and here)

Comment by bilby, 6 months ago

Wed, 06 May 2009 17:22:54 +0000

Lovely, a warm thanks for your suggestions.

Comment by madmouth, 6 months ago

Wed, 06 May 2009 05:03:40 +0000

Chinese character, meaning "king", so by default also part of Korean and Japanese.

Comment by bilby, 6 months ago

Tue, 05 May 2009 16:16:50 +0000

What's the last one, mm? Is it Korean?

Comment by madmouth, 7 months ago

Fri, 01 May 2009 04:35:00 +0000

maharani?
big cheese?
rebbe?
[王]?

also, I think aga and agha are spelling variants of each other.

this is a stellar public list. we can all contribute and admire at the same time.

Comment by bilby, about 1 year ago

Sat, 05 Apr 2008 09:30:00 +0000

Thanks mollydot.

Comment by mollydot, about 1 year ago

Thu, 20 Dec 2007 01:20:18 +0000

And Ard Rí is High King - the king of all Ireland. The others were kings of provinces. Or smaller areas, perhaps? My history is not so good.

Comment by mollydot, about 1 year ago

Thu, 20 Dec 2007 01:17:17 +0000

Two more Irish ones for you: [rí] and [banríon] - king and queen

Comment by michaelchang, about 1 year ago

Thu, 20 Dec 2007 01:00:41 +0000

LOL Kahuna, I don't know why but this is a new favorite word of mine. Maybe i'm getting tired. But on wikipedia i found out there's forty different types of kahuna listed in the book, 'Tales from the Night Rainbow'. Night Rainbow. I'm adding that right away, I have never seen a Night Rainbow, have you?

Comment by sionnach, about 1 year ago

Thu, 20 Dec 2007 00:45:05 +0000

CEO or chief executive officer. pendragon. sachem. khan. fugleman. hetman. ataman. heresiarch. mandriarch. patriarch. emir. jarl. jemidar. agha. caliph. shah. imam. tzaddik. sirdar. malik. grand mufti. foreman. pontiff. chief rabbi. subadar. chancellor.

Comment by bilby, about 1 year ago

Thu, 20 Dec 2007 00:22:05 +0000

Thanks sionnach, it sounds grand. I think we need more Irish words here.

Comment by sionnach, about 1 year ago

Thu, 20 Dec 2007 00:13:15 +0000

Taoiseach is an Irish word, originally meaning "leader" or "chieftain". Now mainly used to refer to Ireland's prime minister; useful in alliterative phrases such as the "teflon taoiseach".

The second-in-command, or deputy prime minister, is referred to as the [tánaiste]. In history the tánaiste was the heir of the chief (taoiseach).

Comment by uselessness, about 1 year ago

Thu, 20 Dec 2007 00:04:28 +0000

Take me to your kahuna.

Comment by bilby, about 1 year ago

Thu, 20 Dec 2007 00:00:44 +0000

Wow, neat word mollydot! Is it Gaelic? I could check around here (Scotland) and see if they have the same thing. I hope you find the yarn shop soon!
Spin-doctors might think they lead public opinion but I'm agin'it. Godfather is closer in the Hollywood sense but the traditional meaning is not one of absolute authority. Even the Italian equivalent padrone might instill fear in Sicily but it's just run-of-the-mill owner elsewhere.

Comment by michaelchang, about 1 year ago

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 23:59:06 +0000

drum major

Comment by michaelchang, about 1 year ago

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 23:50:31 +0000

spin doctor, godfather, Master Mason the Third Degree.

Comment by mollydot, about 1 year ago

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 23:41:19 +0000

Re yarn shop: It's not exactly a who, and I missed the list description about leaders, so it doesn't work at all for your list. But it's somewhere I'd like to be taken to :-)

Here's a better one: Taoiseach, an Irish word. Current meaning is prime minister, literal meaning is leader.

Comment by michaelchang, about 1 year ago

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 23:40:52 +0000

Take me to your Pharaoh bilby.

Comment by michaelchang, about 1 year ago

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 23:38:34 +0000

I think Guru is a kind of leader type although the word literally means teacher. Cos I looked up Lama, which have the same meaning. And I think a Lama can be considered a spiritual leader (as well as a teacher) to quite a few people.

From Wiki: Lama (Tibetan: བླ་མ་; Wylie: bla-ma) is a title for a Tibetan religious teacher. The name is similar to the Sanskrit term 'guru' (see Tibetan Buddhism and Bön). The title can be used as an honorific title conferred on a monk, nun or (in the Nyingma, Kagyu and Sakya schools) advanced tantric practitioner to designate a level of spiritual attainment and authority to teach, or may be part of a title such as Dalai Lama or Panchen Lama applied to a lineage of reincarnate lamas (Tulkus).

Comment by bilby, about 1 year ago

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 23:36:46 +0000

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll go principal for teacher as headmaster is just another derivation of master and that could go on forever.

Comment by michaelchang, about 1 year ago

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 23:35:35 +0000

Emperor

Comment by jennarenn, about 1 year ago

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 23:25:20 +0000

"Who is your teacher?" strikes fear in the hearts of kids everywhere. :)

Comment by michaelchang, about 1 year ago

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 23:25:08 +0000

Sheikh

Comment by bilby, about 1 year ago

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 23:24:54 +0000

I don't understand the sense of yarn shop.

Comment by michaelchang, about 1 year ago

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 23:23:37 +0000

Patron

Comment by michaelchang, about 1 year ago

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 23:17:49 +0000

cheerleader then!

Comment by mollydot, about 1 year ago

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 23:08:58 +0000

Yarn shop.

Comment by michaelchang, about 1 year ago

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 23:06:30 +0000

Puppet Master, must be a leader in every sense!

Comment by michaelchang, about 1 year ago

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 23:05:34 +0000

A Swami, being celibate, channels sexual energy to reach God and Enlightenment. How is that for a dollar?

Comment by michaelchang, about 1 year ago

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 23:03:48 +0000

swami then?

Comment by bilby, about 1 year ago

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 22:57:43 +0000

A guru's a clever person, not necessarily the head dude. I'm not convinced yet.

Comment by michaelchang, about 1 year ago

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 22:46:56 +0000

Take me to your Guru.

Comment by michaelchang, about 1 year ago

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 22:45:12 +0000

:=(

Comment by chained_bear, about 1 year ago

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 22:42:33 +0000

great comment, bilby. i'm writing about the holocaust this week so that's exactly what's in my head too.

wait... Hey! Get out of my head!!

Comment by bilby, about 1 year ago

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 22:10:12 +0000

If I was going to spend double bullet holes on der Fuehrer I'd put them in him, not above :-(

Comment by michaelchang, about 1 year ago

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 21:57:08 +0000

sorry you got that one just with an ue

Comment by michaelchang, about 1 year ago

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 21:56:14 +0000

führer?

Comment by bilby, about 1 year ago

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 20:03:12 +0000

Thanks sionnach. We can always count on you to make timely and useful suggestions for any list!

Comment by sionnach, about 1 year ago

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 16:23:26 +0000

skipper? monarch? liege lord? evil overlord?

Comment by michaelchang, about 1 year ago

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 15:59:06 +0000

or shepherd? depending on who's asking.

Comment by michaelchang, about 1 year ago

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 15:58:07 +0000

janitor?