Etymologically
Log in

republic

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 15 October 2026 at 22:11. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

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.

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