Satrapies is a new word for me, though I am sure it's not for most of you. I see from OED online that it comes from the Book of Daniel, coming from satrap, a governor of a province in ancient Persia.

I saw it being used to describe the former Soviet satrapies that surround Russia. Is it commonly used, and I have just missed it? It's used to mean ruler?

While I recognized it from Satrap, I had never seen it. Makes sense, though.

I can't swear to this, but I think I've seen it around in the modern political sense for some while.

As a child I learned 'satrap' from Xenophon; I remember this because someone else expressed surprise at it and said they knew it as one of the evil hench-lords in 'The Man from UNCLE'. So that's going back a bit.

'Satrap' is not one I'd come across before so there's at least two of us. Part of its history seemes to relate to 'A governor of a province under the ancient Persian monarchy' and as such has come to refer to a subordinate ruler with somewhat tyrannical powers. Hence you can be either a 'satrapal' or a 'satrapess'.

From Latin satraps < Greek < Old Persian khshathrapāvā 'protector of the province' (khshathra-, 'realm, province' + pāvā 'protector'. Kshatria 'princely' is one of the four traditional varnas (lit. 'colors') castes (actually a categorization of castes) of Hindu ritual purity, along with Brahman 'priestly', Vaisya 'merchant', and Sudra 'untouchable' (now called Harijan after a euphemism coined by Gandhi. It's also related to the English words shah and check(mate) also from the Persian.

quote:

Originally posted by aput:
As a child I learned 'satrap' from Xenophon.

Fascinating. You must have had quite a childhood. Could you expand on this, please?

quote:

Originally posted by jheem: ... Old Persian pāvā 'protector'.

Odd question here.
I recall that the surname of the last Shah of Iran was Reza Palavi. In there any connection?

I recall that the surname of the last Shah of Iran was Reza Palavi. In there any connection?

I don't think so, but I'll check.

aput, this "Man from Uncle?" Was the show seen in the UK too? I remember that my mother just loved that show.

Kalleh,

That's the one. (Were there any others?) It was a spoof of the James Bond books/films. Good fun!

arnie, the reason I asked was because "Man from Uncle" was American, and I doubted that it ever was shown in England. However, I guess I was wrong!