tamada
A toastmaster at a feast in the Caucasus, especially in Georgia.
We have the custom of a toastmaker – the tamada, we call him. For the sake of order, he proposes all the toasts. Will you support me as tamada?
Where it comes from
Borrowed from Georgian თამადა (tamada), from (Proto-?)Circassian *tħamada (compare West Circassian тхьаматэ (tḥamatɛ, “foreman of a village; boss; master; chairman; (dated) husband”), East Circassian тхьэмадэ (tḥɛmadɛ, “foreman of a village; boss; master; chairman; (dialectal) bridegroom, wooer”)), possibly from Persian داماد (dâmâd, “bridegroom; son-in-law; father-in-law; sovereign's brother-in-law; lover, wooer”) with the ending reshaped under the influence of East Circassian адэ (adɛ, “father”). The suggestion that the word is derived from a blend of თავი (tavi, “head”) + მაგიდა (magida, “table”) (in the sense of a person at the head of a table) is a folk etymology.
Adapted from the Wiktionary entry tamada (CC BY-SA 4.0).