demotic

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek δημοτικός (dēmotikós, “of or for the people; popular, common”),^[2][3][4][5] which was also the Greek name for a simplified, cursive form of Egyptian script.^[2] This is formed from δημότης (dēmótēs, “one of the people, commoner”) and -ικός (-ikós),^[2][6][7][8] the noun being from δῆμος (dêmos, “land, territory; the people”).^[2][9][6] Etymonline traces it to Proto-Indo-European *da-mo- (“division”), from *da- (“to divide”),^[3][10] and so makes "district" the original meaning.^[3] Beekes reports a comparison with Albanian dhjamë (“fat, pork, tallow”) and rejects one with Indo-Iranian words for "fluid".^[9] The English senses for modern Greek follow Modern Greek δημοτικός (dimotikós) and its noun δημοτική (dimotikí), short for a phrase meaning "vernacular language".^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

As a noun, a simplified, cursive form of ancient Egyptian script: 1782, in T. Pownall's Treatise on the Study of Antiquities.^[2] The revised OED thus antedates the adjective for this script, dated 1822 by the OED, Barnhart, Etymonline and Merriam-Webster Unabridged.^[2][4][3][7]

Semantic evolution

In English the word first served Egyptology, in contrast to the hieratic and hieroglyphic scripts.^[3][11] The Greek meaning "of the common people" followed in English in 1831, in S. Smith's Mr Dyson's Speech on Reform.^[2][3] From 1860 it was used of the form of modern Greek based on everyday speech, opposed to katharevousa;^[2] Barnhart and Etymonline date this use only to 1927.^[4][3] From 1872, in O. W. Holmes, it described the language of ordinary people in general,^[2] and Merriam-Webster Unabridged says it is used especially of language, quoting Cyril Connolly on "the demotic English" of the city.^[7] The noun took the same turn, for modern Greek in 1901 and for ordinary colloquial speech in 1917.^[2]

Timeline

• 1782 – noun, a simplified, cursive Egyptian script.^[2]
• 1822 – adjective, of that Egyptian script.^[2][4][3][7]
• 1831 – adjective, of or suited to ordinary people.^[2][3]
• 1860 – adjective, of the everyday form of modern Greek.^[2]
• 1872 – adjective, of the language of ordinary people.^[2]
• 1901 – noun, the everyday form of modern Greek.^[2]
• 1917 – noun, ordinary colloquial speech.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of or relating to ordinary people; popular, especially in language; colloquial or vernacular: a novel written in brisk demotic English.^[11][7][2]
2. Of or written in a simplified form of ancient Egyptian script, or the language written in it.^[11][7][2]
3. Of the form of modern Greek based on everyday speech.^[11][8][2]

Noun

1. The everyday language of ordinary people.^[2][8]
2. The simplified script of ancient Egypt, or the form of the language written in it.^[11][2]
3. The everyday form of modern Greek, contrasted with katharevousa, capitalised as Demotic in Collins.^[11][7][2]

Word family

• demoticist
• demotist

Related words

• demos
• deme
• democracy

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
11. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins