Sentence:  In 1762, Jean-Jacques Barthélemy, a French priest who was a scholar of Eastern languages, had made the inspired guess that the <WSD>cartouches</WSD> set off words of great importance, such as the names of gods or rulers. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  An oval figure containing the characters of an important personal name, such as that of royal or divine people.