Ahasuerus
The name of king Ahasuerus from the Book of Esther puns with Persian & Semitic ḥš-rš for “perceived ruler” and “inactive ruler”. The legal ruler would be Mordecai
The Persian king in the Book of Esther is named Ahasuerus, spelled אחשורוש ˀḥšwrwš. This is often cheaply equated to “Xerxes”, but that looks & feels simply false. Instead, the root consonants are identical to the Semitic & Persian compound term חש-רש ḥš-rš which means “perceived ruler” or “inactive ruler”. We can get confirmation by the fact that the name Mordecai from the same story means “legally entitled ruler”. The 2 are one opposing pair of many in the Bible.
(Note: ḥš-rš also means “secret ruler”, but that’s unlikely to be meant here, since Ahasuerus is a very visible ruler in the story.)
We know that in our cryptocracy, the “perceived ruler” is typically not the actual ruler. Many clownish US presidents come to mind as proof. But even the kings & emperors of old were not the singular lone genius rulers they were sold as. Rather, then as now, all big decisions have always been made many people. We can probably imagine them as commitees of bankster-type overlords in secret backroom meetings. The “perceived ruler”, their clownish relative on the throne, was probably just the best-looking of the bunch, or simply the least intelligent cousin, who wasn’t of much use in the actual decisionmaking.
אחשורוש ˀḥšwrwš : Ahasuerus, king of Persia — Old Hebrew (Strong)
Hebrew, Arabic, Persian ḥš = sense, perception, perceived
חש ḥš : to sense, to feel; to have a sense, to experience a sensation — Hebrew (Wikt)
חוש ḥwš : feel; felt, perceived, sensed; anxious, worried — Hebrew (Klein)
حَسَّ ḥs ḥassa : to feel; to have sensation, perceive by the senses; to listen; to notice, know, understand; to know for certain — Arabic (Wikt)
حس ḥs ḥess : sense, feeling — Arabic (Wikt)
احساس ˀḥsˀs iḥsās : feeling, perceiving, understanding, perception — Persian (Steingass)
Hebrew ḥš = still, inactive, secret
Hebrew, Arabic, Persian rš = head, boss
ראש rˀš rosh : head, best, bodyguard, captain, chief, company, finest, first, leader, master, summit, top, topmost — Old Hebrew (Strong)
رَأَسَ rˀs raˀasa : to be at the head, to be chairman, to chair, to be in charge, to preside; to head, to lead, to direct, to manage, to run — Arabic (Wikt)
رئیس rˀys raˀis : president; chief; head; boss — Persian (Wikt)