The word is derived from the Romanian verb a conduce, from the Latinducere, cognate with such titles as dux, duke, duce and doge. Its meaning also parallels other titles, such as Führer in Nazi Germany, Duce in Fascist Italy and caudillo in Francoist Spain. It was first employed as an additional title by King Carol II during the final years of the National Renaissance Front regime, and soon after employed by Marshal Ion Antonescu as he assumed dictatorial powers after September 14, 1940. Nominally, Antonescu was Prime Minister and the role of head of state was filled by King Michael, but all real power rested with Antonescu. According to historian Adrian Cioroianu, through the use of the term, Antonescu meant to highlight connections with Germany, and after the fall of the Iron Guard from shared government, his own personal regime. The term was occasionally used in official discourse as a reference to Nicolae Ceaușescu, leader of the Socialist Republic of Romania, starting in the period after 1971, at a time when the Romanian Communist Party grew in membership but decreased in importance due to Ceaușescu's increasing personality cult. It was used in parallel with the rarer cârmaci, in turn borrowed from similar rhetoric in totalitarian states such as Juche Korea and Maoist China. While references to the Party as the "vanguard of the working class" fell out of use, power became centered on Ceauşescu's prerogative to issue orders to the political apparatus. The choice of the term was also meant to highlight a symbolic connection with the Princes of Wallachia and the Princes of Moldavia. Additionally, during the same period, Communist sources began depicting Antonescu in a favorable light. Starting from a model applied to the entire Eastern Bloc by Polishpolitical scientistAndrzej Korboński, differentiating Communist leaderships in types of primus inter pares and primus, Cioroianu concluded that Romania's choice for the latter alternative was most likely based on local political tradition. In Cioroianu's view, Ceaușescu's system drew its other major source of legitimacy from political clientelism. The new political relations, largely based on the Conducător's charisma, were likened to various other dictatorial regimes of the 20th century, and included by Houchang Esfandiar Chehabi and Juan José Linz among the various "Sultanistic regimes"– the title itself has drawn comparisons with other ones created by dictatorial leaders for themselves: Aryamehr, Mobutu Sese SekoKuku Ngbendu Wa Za Banga, the Imperial designation of Central Africa, Benefactor de la Patria, and Conqueror of the British Empire etc..
