republic

Pronunciation

• IPA: /rɪˈpʌb.lɪk/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French république, Middle French republique (15th century),^[2][3][4] a learned borrowing from Latin respublica (“the common weal, commonwealth, state”),^[2][3] literally res publica “public interest, the state”,^[2] from res “affair, matter, thing” and publica, feminine of publicus “public”.^[2][3][5] It is related to public and real.^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

“The state, the common weal”, now obsolete: 1603 in the OED.^[6] A nation governed by elected representatives is from 1604, in Cawdrey's Table Alphabeticall, according to Barnhart and the OED;^[3][6] about 1600 in Etymonline,^[2] and about 1549 in Merriam-Webster Unabridged.^[4]

Semantic evolution

It was applied to particular states with this constitution by the 1630s,^[2] 1631 in the OED.^[6] The idea of a community with a certain equality among its members lies behind the republic of letters, the body of people engaged in literature, from 1702,^[2][6] and its use for communities of animals, from 1750.^[6] Republican, like a republic, is from 1712, in Addison's Spectator, and favouring a republic from 1793;^[3] the noun, one who favours a republic, is from 1697.^[3] Of a member of a Republican party in American politics it is first recorded in John Adams's diary in 1782.^[3]

Timeline

• 1603 – the state, common weal.^[6]
• 1604 – a state governed by representatives.^[3][6]
• 1631 – of particular states.^[6]
• 1697 – republican, noun.^[3]
• 1702 – the republic of letters.^[2][6]
• 1712 – republican, adjective.^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A form of government whose head of state is not a monarch, in modern times usually a president.
2. A nation with such a government.
3. A form of government in which power lies with citizens who vote for representatives responsible to them.
4. A community whose members share equal standing: the republic of letters.

Related words

• republican
• public
• real
• commonwealth

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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press