δεσπότης

δεσπότης — despótēs

δεσπότης, δεσπότου, ὁ (from Pindar down), a master, lord (as of δοῦλοι, οἰκέται): 1Ti 6:1,(2); 2Ti 2:21; Tit 2:9; 1Pe 2:18; God is thus addressed by one who calls himself his δοῦλος: Luk 2:29, cf. Act 4:24; Act 4:29 (δεσπότης τῶν πάντων, Job 5:8; Wis 6:8); Christ is so called, as one who has bought his servants, 2Pe 2:1; rules over his church, Jud 1:4 (some take δεσπότης here as designating God; cf. R. V. marginal reading); and whose prerogative it is to take vengeance on those who persecute his followers, Rev 6:10. [SYNONYMS: δεσπότης, κύριος: δεσπότης was strictly the correlative of slave, δοῦλος, and hence, denoted absolute ownership and uncontrolled power; κύριος had a wider meaning, applicable to the various ranks and relations of life, and not suggestive either of property or of absolutism. Ammonius under the word δεσπότης says δεδσποτης ὁ τῶν ἀργυρωνητων. κύριος δέ καί πατήρ υἱοῦ καί αὐτός τίς ἑαυτοῦ. So Philo, quis rer. div. heres § 6 ὥστε τόν δεσπότην κύριον εἶναι καί ἔτι ὡσανεί φοβερόν κύριον, οὐ μόνον τό κῦρος καί τό κράτος ἁπάντων ἀνημμενον, ἀλλά καί δέος καί φόβον ἱκανόν ἐμποιησαι. Cf. Trench, § xxviii.; Woolsey, in Bib. Sacr. for 1861, p. 599f; Schmidt, chapter 161, 5.]