nabob

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The Word of the Day for August 25 is:

nabob   \NAY-bahb\   noun
     1 : a provincial governor of the Mogul empire in India
   *2 : a person of great wealth or prominence

Example sentence:
     "It's the haunt of international luminaries . . . 
television pundits, industrial nabobs, visiting royals, best-
selling novelists, and anybody who is anybody." (Jay Jacobs, 
_Gourmet_, January 1983)

Did you know?
     In India's Mogul Empire, founded by the Moslem prince Babur 
in the 16th century, provincial governors carried the title 
of  "nawab" in the Urdu language. In 1612, Captain Robert 
Coverte (apparently unaware of earlier travel accounts) 
published  a report of his "discovery" of "the Great Mogoll, a 
prince not till now knowne to our English nation."  The Captain 
informed the English-speaking world that "An earle is called a 
Nawbob," thereby introducing the English version of the word to 
the written page. "Nabob," as it thereafter came to be spelled, 
gained its extended sense of "a prominent person" in the late 
18th century, when it was applied sarcastically to British 
officials of the East India Company who returned home after 
amassing great wealth trading in Asia.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.