syndic

Forms

syndic m (plural syndics, feminine syndique)^[1] Older spellings include syndiques (1257), sindic (1318), soudic (1376), sindiz (1385), sindique (1418) and cindit (1455).^[2][3][4][5]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin syndicus (“advocate and representative of a town”), which is from Ancient Greek σύνδικος (súndikos, “one who assists someone in court, defender”).^[2][3][5][1] The Greek word is formed from σύν (sún, “with, together”) and δίκη (díkē, “custom, right, justice”), which Rey connects with the Indo-European root of Latin dīcō (“to say”).^[3][6] Bloch and Wartburg call the Latin source Ecclesiastical Latin.^[4]

The word entered first the municipal vocabulary of the Rhône region and of Bordeaux, and the royal chancery adopted it in the 15th and 16th centuries for the towns of the south.^[2] The same Latin word gave Italian sindaco and Old Occitan sindic.^[3][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded as syndiques in 1257, in an agreement between the barons of the Kingdom of Jerusalem and the merchants of Ancona, for a person in charge of the interests of a community of which he is a member.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

From the 13th century it was a legal word for someone mandated to defend the interests of a community, and in the 16th and 17th centuries especially of a church body.^[3] Under the Ancien Régime the syndic represented a town's inhabitants before its overlord, and in a rural parish was elected to carry out the decisions of the parish assembly; the mayors replaced them in 1789.^[3][8] In Geneva the word named each of the four chief magistrates of the republic (cindit, 1455), and in the cantons of Vaud and Fribourg it is still the title of the elected head of a commune.^[3]

Because of the authority of the office, it was also used for “censor” from 1559 to the early 18th century.^[3] In law it named the chairman of a meeting of creditors (1671) and then the creditors' representative who manages and winds up a bankrupt's estate (1765), the syndic de faillite.^[3][2] It was also the title of a local officer of the maritime registry (1831), the syndic des gens de mer.^[3][2] In the 20th century it came to mean the agent of the co-owners of a building, who manages it and shares out and collects the charges.^[3][9] In ancient history (1765) it names an Athenian orator charged with defending a law.^[3][2]

Timeline

• 1257 – Syndiques in an agreement made in the Kingdom of Jerusalem.^[2][8]
• 1318 – The form sindic is recorded.^[3][5]
• 1376 – The altered form soudic appears in the north of France.^[3]
• 1418 – Recorded at Lyon for a municipal officer.^[2][3]
• 1455 – Cindit for the magistrates of Geneva.^[3][7]
• 1559 – Used in the sense “censor”.^[3]
• 1671 – The chairman of a creditors' meeting.^[3]
• 1765 – The Encyclopédie records the sense in bankruptcy and in Greek antiquity.^[2][3]
• 1831 – Syndic des marins is recorded.^[2]
• 1839 – Syndic de faillite is recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (history) Under the Ancien Régime, a representative of the inhabitants of a town or rural parish.^[8][10][9]
2. The agent chosen by the co-owners of a building to manage it, also syndic d'immeuble.^[10][9][3]
3. Syndic de faillite: a provisional administrator of a bankrupt business.^[10][9]
4. (Switzerland) In Vaud and Fribourg, the elected head of a commune, equivalent to a mayor.^[3]
5. A member of a professional body's disciplinary chamber, as of notaries.^[8]
6. Syndic des gens de mer: a local officer of the maritime registry.^[8][3]

Word family

• syndical
• syndicat
• syndiquer

Related words

• Late Latin syndicus

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
7. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b c d Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
10. ^ a b c Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)