172 CEREMONIAL INSTITUTIONS. 



405. &quot;We may deal briefly with the remaining titles; 

 which re-illustrate, in their respective ways, the general 

 principle set forth. 



Like other names of honour that grew np in early 

 times, the name &quot; king &quot; is one concerning the formation of 

 which there are differences of opinion. By general agree 

 ment, however, its remote source is the Sanscrit ganaka; 

 and &quot; in Sanscrit, ganaka means producing, parent, then 

 king.&quot; If this is the true derivation, we have simply an al 

 ternative title for the head of the family-group, of the patri 

 archal group, and of the cluster of patriarchal groups. 

 The only further fact respecting it calling for remark, is the 

 way in which it becomes compounded to produce a higher 

 title. Just as in Hebrew, Abram, meaning &quot; high father,&quot; 

 came to be a compound used to signify the fatherhood and 

 headship of any minor groups; and just as the Greek and 

 Latin equivalents to our patriarch, signified by implication, 

 if not directly, a father of fathers; so in the case of the title 

 &quot; king,&quot; it has happened that a potentate recognized as 

 dominant over numerous potentates, has in many cases 

 been descriptively called &quot; king of kings.&quot; In Abyssinia 

 this compound royal name is used down to the present 

 time; as we lately saw that it is also in Burmah. Ancient 

 Egyptian monarchs assumed it; and it occurred as a su 

 preme title in Assyria. And here again we meet a cor 

 respondence between terrestrial and celestial titles. As 

 &quot; father &quot; and &quot; king &quot; are applied in common to the vis 

 ible and to the invisible ruler; so, too, is &quot; king of kings.&quot; 



This need for marking by some additional name the 

 ruler who becomes head over many rulers, leads to the in 

 troduction of other titles of honour. In France, for exam 

 ple, while the king was but a predominant feudal noble, he 

 was addressed by the title ftire, which was a title borne by 

 feudal nobles in general; but towards the end of the fif 

 teenth century, when his supremacy became settled, the 

 additional word &quot; majesty &quot; grew into use as specially ap- 



