From Greek 'autokrateia,' 'autos' (self) + 'kratos' (power) — absolute rule by one person, self-rule in the most literal sense.
A system of government by one person with absolute power. A state or organization governed in this way.
From Greek 'autokrateia' (absolute power, self-rule, autocracy), from 'autokratēs' (self-ruling, ruling by oneself, absolute), a compound of 'autos' (self, one's own, from PIE *s(w)e-) + 'kratos' (strength, power, rule, dominion), from PIE *kret- (power, strength, dominance). The PIE root *kret- is found mainly in Greek, where it produced an entire political vocabulary: 'demokratia' (rule of the people), 'aristokratia' (rule of the best), 'theokratia' (rule of god), 'gerontokratia' (rule of elders), and the suffix '-cracy' for any system of governance. 'Kratos' is also cognate with Sanskrit
The title 'Autocrat of All the Russias' ('Samoderzhets Vserossiisky') was the official designation of the Russian emperor from the fifteenth century until 1917. The Russian word 'samoderzhets' is a calque — a literal translation — of Greek 'autokratōr' (self-ruler). When Ivan III adopted the title, he was deliberately claiming