In the exact sense, a tyrant is an inpidual who arrogates to himself the royal authority without having a right to it. This is how the Greeks understood the word 'tyrant': they applied it indifferently to good and bad princes whose authority was not legitimate. [Rousseau, "The Social Contract"]
Originally in Greek the word was not applied to old hereditary sovereignties (basileiai) and despotic kings, but it was used of usurpers, even when popular, moderate, and just (such as Cypselus of Corinth), however it soon became a word of reproach in the usual modern sense. The spelling with -t arose in Old French by analogy with present participle endings in -ant. Fem. form tyranness is recorded from 1590 (Spenser); Medieval Latin had tyrannissa (late 14c.).英语单词tyrant常被译为“暴君”，即“残暴之君”，而实际上，tyrant一词的本意与“残暴”并无关系，它更精确的翻译是僭主，是一种君主制的变体。古希腊人认为，不通过世袭或合法民主选举程序等正当方式，凭借武力、个人影响力等方式上台统治城邦的统治者称为tyrant（僭主）。“僭”指超越本分，指地位在下的冒用在上的名义或礼仪；“主”指主宰而非正统国君。该词本无贬义，只是一个对于城邦统治方式的形容。僭主当中也有不少贤明之辈。但在古希腊哲学家柏拉图与亚里斯多德对于僭主提出严厉的批评之后，僭主开始成为带有贬义的用语。柏拉图的《理想国》一书中，提及君主、寡头、共和及僭主四种政体，其中，僭主被认为是一种最容易形成独裁统治的政体。僭主统治的城邦很容易出现独裁的状况。因此，原本表示“僭主”的tyrant一词逐渐引申出“独裁者、暴君”的含义。
tyrant： ['taɪr(ə)nt] n.僭主，暴君，独裁者
tyranny：['tɪr(ə)nɪ] n.僭主政治，暴政，专横，独裁统治，残暴的行为
该词的英语词源请访问找单词词源英文版：tyrant 词源，tyrant 含义。
来自拉丁语 tyrannus,国君，暴君，统治者，来自希腊语 tyrannos,国君，暴君，统治者。
来自拉丁语 tyrannus,国君，暴君，统治者，来自希腊语 tyrannos,国君，暴君，统治者。