Dominion-what's in a word?

What is in a word?  Can we sometimes read too much into a word?  As Freud once famously said "Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.".

I believe that one of the things the Holy Spirit helps us to do in our daily walk is to notice or single out specific words.  We may have read a chapter multiple times and all of a sudden you notice a particular word and that gives the  chapter or verse new meaning.

Here is such an example from my walk today.

Psalms 8:4-6(NKJV)

4    What is man that You are mindful of him,     And the son of man that You visit him?

5    For You have made him a little lower than £the angels,     And You have crowned him with glory and honor.

6    You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands;      You have put all things under his feet,

Dominion 

There are other words that God could have used there.  Does dominion have some sort of special meaning?  Let's look at the definition.

do·min·ion

1. the power or right of governing and controlling; sovereign authority.

2. rule; control; domination.

3. a territory, usually of considerable size, in which a single rulership holds sway.

4. lands or domains subject to sovereignty or control.

5. Government . a territory constituting a self-governing commonwealth and being one of a number of such territories united in a community of nations, or empire: formerly applied to self-governing divisions of the British Empire, as Canada and New Zealand.

Pasted from <http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/dominion>

Look at the first definition.  Sovereign authority.  What exactly does that mean? 

sov·er·eign

adjective

1. belonging to or characteristic of a sovereign or sovereign authority; royal.

2. having supreme rank, power, or authority.

3. supreme; preeminent; indisputable: a sovereign right.

4. greatest in degree; utmost or extreme.

5. being above all others in character, importance, excellence, etc.

Look at the definitions of sovereign.  The first one uses sovereign authority and calls it royal.  The second definition speaks of supreme rank, power, or authority.  The other definitions strike similar tones.  

Now let's look at the verse again.

   For You have made him a little lower than £the angels,     And You have crowned him with glory and honor.

6    You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands;      You have put all things under his feet,

What I draw from the use of the word dominion is a distinction that I had not noticed before.  I've known that God has given man dominion over the things that God has made.  That is pretty incredible in and of itself.  Think about it.  Even though God knew right from the start that we were sinful and would need salvation, He still thought enough of us to put us in charge of his creation here on earth.

What I didn't understand until today is the degree of authority He has given us here.  I had always thought of us as caretakers, underlings if you will.  What this Scripture has taught me is that God has conveyed on us the authority of Him who made everything. 

Now please don't misunderstand.  I'm not saying we are replacing God or anything like that.  I'm just saying that we should look at our authority here with the  eyes of an owner, not a caretaker.  Does that make sense or am I reading to much into dominion?