KING

A title of dignity in the languages, extinct and living, of the Gothic and Teutonic races. The term has long been considered of uncertain origin; but there can be little doubt tltat it is derived from the German word kiinnen, to be able, thus in the very threshold giving an idea of superior )>ower or ability. In its primary acceptation it denotes a person in whom is vested the chief executive authority; but it is susceptible of as great a variety of shades of meaning as there are states or nations to be governed. Thus it is applied equally to the limited sovereign of England and the absolute sovereign of Pru ia; to the chief magistrate of Poland informer times, who was elected, and to that of England, who succeeds by hereditary right; to the head of a savage tribe or barbarous horde, as weli as to that of the most refined and civilized nation. It is expre ed in Greek by the word BasUeus, and in Latin and its cognate languages by Rex; but all the nations of Europe have adopted into their respective languages the equivalent terms in use among the people with whom they carry on intercourse. Thus we [s. 645]