*Dominus is a term deriving from the Latin word "dominus" (master, lord, owner). It arose in Ancient Rome as a form of address to the head of a household or the owner of a house, and was later used as a title for emperors and nobility. In a modern context, the term can denote members of the social elite who hold power and control over resources. In sociology it’s sometimes used to describe dominant groups within a society.
*Individual is a term deriving from the Latin "individuum" (indivisible). It was introduced into scholarly use in medieval scholastic philosophy of the 13th-14th centuries to denote a singular, concrete, indivisible being, as opposed to the general and abstract. In modern usage, it means a single person, a personality regarded as an independent bearer of certain biological and social qualities. In philosophy and sociology, the individual is often set in opposition to the mass or the collective.
The core distinction between the two concepts: a dominus represents a status and a position within a social hierarchy (dominance over others), while an individual is a characteristic of an independent unit of society, emphasizing its uniqueness and indivisibility. Dominus is a category of power and social superiority; individual is a category of independent existence and identity.