commonwealth

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈkɒm.ən.welθ/, US /ˈkɑː.mən.welθ/^[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English commoun welthe, written separately at first, from English common + wealth,^[2][3][4][5] wealth here having its old sense of well-being.^[3][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Public welfare, the general good: about 1470 in the OED, now obsolete;^[7][6] Etymonline has a community or the whole body of people in a state from the mid-15th century.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Hoad notes that common weal and common wealth were at first used for both public welfare and the body politic, and that in the 16th century commonwealth became the usual English term for the latter,^[6] from 1513 in the OED.^[7] Any body of persons united by a common interest is from the 1550s.^[2][7] A state governed by the people, a republic, is from the 1610s,^[2][7] which led to its use for the government of England from 1649 to 1660 under Cromwell.^[2][7][6] In the United States it is part of the official name of Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Virginia and Kentucky;^[2][8] Pennsylvania's choice in 1776 reflected radical Whig principles.^[2] The federated states of Australia took the title in 1891,^[7] and the association of Britain with its self-governing former colonies is from 1884 in the OED, 1917 in Etymonline.^[7][2] A company of actors sharing the receipts instead of drawing wages was a commonwealth from 1824.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 1470 – public welfare.^[7]
• 1513 – the body politic.^[7]
• 1550s – a body with a common interest.^[2]
• 1610s – a republic.^[2]
• 1649 – the English Commonwealth.^[7]
• 1891 – the Commonwealth of Australia.^[7]
• 1917 – self-governing former British colonies.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The people of a nation or state; the body politic.
2. A nation governed by its people; a republic.
3. (Commonwealth) The official title of certain US states, such as Kentucky and Massachusetts.
4. (the Commonwealth) The association of sovereign states that were mostly once dependencies of the United Kingdom.
5. (history) The republican government of England from 1649 to 1660.
6. A group of people or states united by a common interest.

Related words

• commonweal
• common
• wealth
• weal
• well

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin