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tribune

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English has two words spelled tribune: the Roman official, from Latin, and the raised platform, from French and Italian.[1][2][3]

Pronunciation

  • /ˈtɹɪbjuːn/, /tɹɪˈbjuːn/[4]

tribune1 Roman official

Etymology

The Roman official is inherited from Middle English tribun,[5][6] borrowed from Old French tribun and directly from Latin tribūnus (“magistrate, tribune”),[2][6][7] originally "head of a tribe", from tribus (“tribe”), the source of tribe.[2][7][8][1] The Shorter Oxford takes the Latin noun as an adjective used as a noun, short for "magistrate of a tribe",[9][3] and Klein explains it as tribus with a suffix of ownership or relation.[10] The OED treats the English word as borrowed from Latin and compares the French word, recorded from the 13th century;[8] Anglo-Norman tribun is recorded from the second half of the 12th century, for a high Roman official or a military tribune.[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

A title of several Roman officers, especially a tribune of the people, elected by the plebeians to protect them: about 1375 in Barnhart,[2] before 1387 in the OED, in Trevisa's translation of Higden's Polychronicon.[8]

Semantic evolution

The tribunes of the people protected the rights of the plebeians against the patricians;[7][12] there were two at first and later ten.[12][8] The Romans also had military tribunes, officers of a legion.[9][12][13] From 1587 the word was used of any officer in a similar position, a protector of the people's rights or a popular leader, and also of a demagogue,[8][9] since the later Roman tribunes had a name for violent factiousness.[7] From the sense of a defender of popular rights it also became a name for newspapers.[7] The rare verb tribune, to control by tribunal authority, is recorded once, in 1647.[8]

Timeline

  • c. 1375 – an official in ancient Rome.[2]
  • before 1387 – first OED record, in Trevisa.[8]
  • 1587 – an officer like a Roman tribune; a popular leader.[8]
  • 1647 – verb, to control by tribunal authority (rare).[8]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. (Roman history) An official elected by the plebeians to protect their interests against the patricians.
  2. (Roman history) A senior officer of a legion, a military tribune.
  3. A person or institution that defends the rights of the people; a champion: The paper saw itself as a tribune of the workers.

Word family

  • tribunary
  • tribuneship
  • tribunitial

tribune2 raised platform

Etymology

The raised platform is borrowed from French tribune,[8][2][6][1] recorded in French from 1409,[8] borrowed from Italian tribuna,[2][6][9] from Medieval Latin tribūna, recorded in 914,[8][6] which took the place of Latin tribūnal (“platform for the seats of magistrates”).[8][7][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Tribuna, the octagonal hall of the Uffizi gallery in Florence: 1670, in a translation of Lassels's Voyage of Italy.[8][9][3] Barnhart finds it as a place name in 1645.[2]

Semantic evolution

In the 18th century it took on further senses: a raised platform, dais or rostrum, or a bishop's throne (1763, in Walpole),[8][2] and the apse of a basilica, where such a throne stood (before 1771, in Gray).[8][3] Barnhart dates the platform sense 1762–71, Etymonline 1762 and Merriam-Webster 1763.[2][7][1] From 1865 it also meant a raised seated gallery, as in a church, and the stands at continental racecourses.[8][9]

Timeline

  • 1645 – as a place name.[2]
  • 1670 – the Tribuna in the Uffizi, Florence.[8]
  • 1763 – a raised platform, a rostrum; a bishop's throne.[8][1]
  • before 1771 – the apse of a basilica.[8]
  • 1865 – a raised seated gallery; a grandstand.[8]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A raised platform from which a speaker addresses an assembly; a dais or rostrum.
  2. The apse of a basilica, or a bishop's throne within it.
  3. A raised area or gallery with seats, as in a church or at a racecourse.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  5. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d e The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  10. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  11. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  12. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.