polity

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin polītīa (“organized government, civil administration”).^{[2][3][4][5][6]} The American Heritage Dictionary, the Oxford Dictionary of English and Weekley give obsolete Middle French politie as the immediate source,^[7][8][9] and Etymonline allows either.^[10] The OED calls the French form a sporadic variant of policie, the source of policy.^[2] The Latin word is from Ancient Greek πολιτεία (politeía, “citizenship, government”),^[4][11][6] formed from a word for citizen, from πόλις (pólis, “city”).^[11][8] The OED adds that in some uses the word may be an alteration of policy after the Latin form.^[2] Barnhart treats the two as doublets.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Civil order or organization: before 1538, in T. Starkey's Dialogue between Pole and Lupset.^[2][3] Etymonline likewise has the 1530s.^[10]

Semantic evolution

The first sense, civil order, soon spread to the running of a state (1558, in Knox) and to management or statecraft in general (1562); both are now rare.^[2] The OED's revised entry dates "an organized society, the state" to 1555, and a particular form of government to 1590,^[2] earlier than the 1650 and 1597 given by Barnhart.^[3] Etymonline has the 1640s for the organized community.^[10] Johnson (1755) knows it as a form of government or civil constitution, quoting a passage on church polity.^[12] Ayto calls the word now archaic,^[13] but the OED and Collins keep the senses "organized society" and "form of government" as current.^[2][11] Merriam-Webster also records a specific use for Aristotle's form of government by the whole body of the people.^[14]

Timeline

• before 1538 – civil order, civil society.^[2][3]
• 1555 – an organized society, the state.^[2] Barnhart dates it to 1650.^[3]
• 1558 – the administration of a state.^[2]
• 1562 – management, statecraft.^[2]
• 1590 – a particular form of government.^[2] Barnhart dates it to 1597.^[3]
• 1642 – a political principle (recorded only then).^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A politically organized society; a state: The new polity adopted a written constitution.^[11][2][10]
2. A form of government or organization of a state, church or society.^[11][14][2]
3. Political organization; civil order.^[11][14][2]
4. The management of public affairs.^[11][14][2]
5. In Aristotle, a form of government by the whole people for the good of all, combining oligarchy and democracy.^[14]

Related words

• police
• policy
• political
• politician
• politicize
• politic
• politics
• polis

Usage notes

The OED records a separate rare noun polity meaning polarity only once, in 1613, in M. Ridley's Short Treatise of Magneticall Bodies; it is formed from pole and -ity, perhaps after New Latin politas (“polarity, direction of axis”).^[2]

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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
10. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ a b c d e f g Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
13. ^ Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
14. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster