δημοκρατία

Forms

δημοκρᾰτῐ́ᾱ (dēmokratíā) f (genitive δημοκρᾰτῐ́ᾱς); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is a compound from Ancient Greek δῆμος (dêmos, “the common people, the assembly of the people”) + -κρατία (-kratía, “power, rule”),^[1][2] the second part being from κράτος (krátos, “strength, power”).^[2] The word is “rule by the people”, and it was coined in the 5th century BC alongside the names of the other constitutions.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Herodotus and Thucydides, in the 5th century BC, are the first to use it, of government by the people.^[4][3][5] Herodotus tells how democracies were set up in the Ionian cities, and Thucydides describes the democracy established in Samos.^[5]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Athens the word named both the constitution and the people's rule itself.^[3][5] Pericles, in Thucydides, says the Athenian state is called a democracy because it is run for the many, not the few, while Thucydides says of Pericles' own time that it was a democracy in name, in fact the rule of the first man.^[5] The philosophers set it against other constitutions: Aristotle defines it as the state in which the mass of the people is sovereign, Plato traces it from oligarchy and sees tyranny grow out of it, and Polybius and others oppose it to aristocracy, oligarchy and monarchy.^[5] Hellenistic inscriptions pair it with freedom, autonomy and equality before the law, and Dio Cassius applies it to the Roman Republic.^[5]

The word was still used in the Middle Ages and survives in Modern Greek, where δημοκρατία (dimokratía) is a learned word, reinforced by French démocratie.^[6][7] Besides the political system it now also means a republic, a state whose head is elected.^[8][2] From Greek, by way of Medieval Latin and French, came the English democracy (1570s).^[9]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – Herodotus and Thucydides use it of government by the people.^[4][5][3]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle defines democracy as the rule of the sovereign mass of citizens.^[5]
• 2nd century BC – Polybius sets it against aristocracy, and pairs it with freedom.^[5]
• 2nd–3rd century AD – Dio Cassius uses it of the Roman Republic.^[5]
• 1570s – English borrows democracy through French démocratie.^[9]
• Modern Greek – The learned δημοκρατία (dimokratía) means democracy and also a republic.^[7][8]

Meanings

Noun

1. Democracy, government by the people, as a political system or as the constitution of a particular state.^[3][5]
2. (in late writers) The Roman republic, as opposed to monarchy.^[5]

Word family

• δημοκρατέομαι (dēmokratéomai)
• δημοκρατικός (dēmokratikós)

Related words

• ἰσονομία (isonomíā)
• Modern Greek δημοκρατία (dimokratía)
• English democracy

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
3. ^ a b c d e Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
4. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
6. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
7. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
8. ^ a b Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com