Batoni (title)

Batoni ( _ka. ბატონი) is a Georgian word for "lord", or "master". It is derived from "patroni" (პატრონი), the earlier term of similar meaning, and appears in common usage in the 15th century.

*In Georgian feudal hierarchy, "batoni" may denote the supreme suzerain (i.e., monarch), seigneur, or any secular or clerical who owned "qma", i.e., "slave" or "serf". The word sometimes appears as a part of the royal and nobiliary titulature. For example, the title of the Princes of Mukhrani was batoni (Mukhran-batoni), and the early kings of Kakheti were likewise referred to by that title in some Georgian sources. [Toumanoff, Cyril (1949–51). The Fifteenth-Century Bagratids and the Institution of Collegial Sovereignty in Georgia. "Traditio" 7: 216.] [Stephen F. Jones (2005), "Socialism in Georgian Colors: The European Road to Social Democracy, 1883-1917", p. 195. Harvard University Press, ISBN 0674019024.] Suny, Ronald Grigor (1994), "The Making of the Georgian Nation", pp. 42-3. Indiana University Press, ISBN 0253209153]

*In modern usage, "batoni" is a honorific used for a man, an equivalent of both Mr. and sir. The equivalent female title is "k'albatoni" (ქალბატონი). It can be used with the full name as well as either the last or first name. When addressing someone directly, the word is used in a vocative case "(k'al)batono" ( [ქალ] ბატონო), and precedes either the first name (more commonly) or the last name, but it can also be used by itself in direct address.

See also

*Batonishvili

References