word choice - What is the inverse term for a proxy?


I'm in a similar situation to crodjer, in that I am struggling with a word to describe a concept.


In his case, he had a job, for which some people are responsible, say: a, b, c, d and e. In my case, a can elect one or more proxies to act on his behalf, say: f and g; similarly, b could elect g and h as his proxies.


I'm happy with the term 'proxy' for the person the task has been delegated to, but I wonder what the reverse term is, i.e. in the example above, if g is a proxy of b, what is b to g?



Answer



The word you are looking for might be principal. Although the more usual pairing is principal-agent, I believe that principal is correct in such contexts as proxy voter, which is nearly what you have in your example.


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