despot

Etymology

From Middle French despote, from Old French despote, from Medieval Latin despota, from Ancient Greek δεσπότης (despótēs, “lord, master, owner”). Cognate with Sanskrit दम्पति (dámpati).

noun

1. A ruler with absolute power; a tyrant.
   The Red Holocaust is best interpreted in this light as the bitter fruit of an utopian gambit that was socially misengineered into a dystopic nightmare by despots in humanitarian disguise. 2009, Steven Rosefielde, Red Holocaust, page 240
2. (historical) A title awarded to senior members of the imperial family in the late Byzantine Empire, and claimed by various independent or semi-autonomous rulers in the Balkans (12th to 15th centuries)