Is there such a word as "foresitter" in English? Can I use it instead of "chairman"? [closed]

Is there such a word as "foresitter" in English? Can I use it instead of "chairman"?

In Russian there are two words: "prezident", borrowed from Latin (meaning president), and native Slavic "predsedatel" (meaning chairman).

In their structure both words mean "the one who sits in front". But in English "chairman" sounds weird and disrespectful. So many foreign offices are translated as "president" which is very confusing. Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the USSR for instance has been translated as "president" or "premier" at times; Chairman of the People's Republic of China recently switched to being translated as "President of China" etc. Note that in the Chinese language the word for "president" is different from the title of their head of state and they officially translate the office name into Russian as "predsedatel", not as "prezident".

So, my question is: would it not be better and more understandable if such offices were translated as "Foresitter"? Would it look uneducated?

Contrary to the original poster's assumptions, "Chairman" and "Chairwoman" do not sound "weird" or "disrespectful" to my (American) ear. On the contrary, these words suggest "a person chosen (often by their fellow committee members) to control the flow of the committee's meetings". The chairman (or chairwoman) usually has a gavel, which they can bang to indicate that a meeting has started or ended, or that a decision has been made and it is time to move on. (Gavels are also used by judges and Speakers of houses of parliaments, which are similarly prestigious positions.)

"Foresitter" is not an English word. (My spell-checker does not recognize it, nor do any of the on-line dictionaries I checked.) "Foresitter" has some inappropriate connotations:

• "Fore" is the first syllable in "forelegs" (the front legs of four-legged animals)
• "Fore" is the first syllable in "foreplay" (things people do before having sex)
• "Sitter" is often short for "Babysitter" (someone who tends babies, or supervises children when their parents are not around).

In the vast majority of cases chair(man/woman/person) is the best, even the only, word to use.

There are sometimes alternatives - you should consult a good dictionary (or two, the second being English-Russian) for their exact meanings and uses. These include president, presiding officer, secretary (though the other meanings of this are much more common without a qualifier, so it's best avoided unless the position has been given that title in English). You also have to consider the contrasting roles in the organisation: in some cases much of the chair's role is carried out by the speaker.

A generic leader could also work in some cases. In some cases English uses the closest word to the real title (we refer to the German Chancellor).

Foresitter is a direct translation that has no meaning in English. Other words starting fore- or front- aren't much help either.

It's rarely (possibly even never) wrong to use a long form such as chairman of the presiding council, which might guide you if you really need to avoid ambiguity in the title itself rather than just by context.

Foresitter would be almost incomprehensible to native speakers. There is a word foreman that could be used to translate a term for 'one who is in charge' if you do not want to use chairman or president. I do not, however, think it would be a good translation of political titles, because of the lowly connotations; a foreman usually receives instructions and translates them into work for others, sometimes (as in jury foreman representing his group to other authorities.

I

To iterate, foresitter wouldn't look uneducated per se—it's not anything poorly-educated native speakers would say—but it most certainly would look like a weird calque created by someone who may be educated in their own language but doesn't have a good handle on English yet.

II

Chairman does not look "weird" or "disrespectful" in English. You're misunderstanding the translations and the reasons for them. The Presidium's chairman was occasionally translated as "president" or "premier" to emphasize their status as an effective head of state. The Chinese paramount leader recently began to be referenced as the "president" because he is, in fact, the president. The "chairman" in Chairman Mao refers to his leadership of China's Central Military Commission, which gave him most of the real power while other figureheads held nominally higher positions. President Xi is also the chairman of that commission, but he has consolidated control of other offices as well and is referenced by the highest nominal post.

III

Apart from "chairman", which originally referenced the right to get the only chair in the room and therefore captures your sitting-before idea, the closest term etymologically is precisely president, whose Latin roots are exactly equivalent to "foresitting one", "one who sits in front of the rest".

That said, it's usually now understood as "one who presides" with preside itself being understood as something like "direct" or "control official business".

So you're back at where you started. Heads of state are usually going to get the term "president"; other leaders of important committees and assemblies are going to get "chairman", "speaker", or some special and local term.

Tl;dr: If there is some high and important post with official English translations, there are some very good reasons for them and you're better off not trying to second-guess them unless you have a pressing need and enough reliable outside sources that you could successfully move the relevant Wikipedia page.