Etymologically
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democratic

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /ˌdem.əˈkræt.ɪk/, US /ˌdem.əˈkræt̬.ɪk/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French democratique (French démocratique),[2][3][4] from Medieval Latin democraticus,[2][3] from Ancient Greek δημοκρατικός (dēmokratikós, “of or for democracy”),[2][3] from δημοκρατία (dēmokratía, “popular government”),[2][4] from δῆμος (dêmos, “the people”) and κράτος (krátos, “power, rule”).[2] It is related to democracy and democrat.[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of the nature of democracy: 1602 in the OED,[5] about 1600 in Etymonline.[2] The earlier adjectives were democratian (1570s) and democratical (1580s).[2]

Semantic evolution

As the name of a political faction it is from 1790, of France.[2] In American politics, with a capital D, it is from about 1800:[2][5] the party, first the Anti-Federal party, then the Democratic-Republican, formed among those opposed to extensive powers for the federal government, and its name was formally shortened to Democratic only in 1829.[2] Democratic socialism is from 1849.[2] The sense “egalitarian, for the people in general” followed from the political meaning.[6][7]

Timeline

  • 1570s – democratian.[2]
  • 1580s – democratical.[2]
  • 1602 – democratic.[5]
  • 1790 – a French political faction.[2]
  • c. 1800 – the American Democratic party.[2][5]
  • 1829 – the party name shortened to Democratic.[2]
  • 1849 – democratic socialism.[2]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Of, supporting or based on democracy.
  2. Of or for the people in general; popular.
  3. Believing in or practising social equality; egalitarian.
  4. Democratic: of the Democratic Party of the United States.

Word family

  • democratically
  • antidemocratic
  • hyperdemocratic
  • nondemocratic
  • predemocratic
  • prodemocratic
  • superdemocratic
  • democracy
  • democrat
  • democratize
  • demagogue
  • demography
  • epidemic
  • bureaucratic
  • aristocratic

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 l m n o p q r Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b c Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  7. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press