Dominus is the
Latin word for
master or
owner. As a
title of
sovereignty the term under the
Roman Republic had all the associations of the
Greek Tyrannos; refused during the early
principate, it finally became an official title of the
Roman Emperors under
Diocletian (this is where the term
dominate, used to describe a political system of
Roman Empire in 284-476, is derived from). Dominus, the
French equivalent being "sieur", was the Latin title of the
feudal, superior and
mesne,
lords, and also an
ecclesiastical and
academical title. The ecclesiastical title was rendered in
English "sir", which was a common
prefix before the
Reformation for
parsons, as in Sir Hugh Evans in
Shakespeare's Merry Wives of Windsor. The academical use was for a
Bachelor of Arts, and so is still used at the
University of Cambridge and other
universities. The shortened form "
Dom" is used as a prefix of honor for ecclesiastics of the
Catholic Church, and especially for members of the
benedictine and other
religious orders.