respublica

Forms

rēspūblica f (genitive reīpūblicae); fifth declension^[1] It is also written as two words, rēs pūblica, and both parts are declined: genitive reī pūblicae, accusative rem pūblicam.^[2][3] An inscription has the spelling popl-, and pupl- is sometimes read in Plautus.^[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin rēs (“thing, affair”) + pūblicus (“public”), a phrase “the public affair” written as one word, with the feminine of the adjective agreeing with the noun.^[2][1][4] De Vaan traces rēs to Proto-Italic *rē- and Proto-Indo-European *Hreh₁i- (“wealth, goods”), and gives the cognate Umbrian ri (“thing, interest”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Plautus on,^[2][6] who writes meruimus de vobis et re publica, “we have deserved well of you and of the state”, and puplicae rei caussa, “for the sake of the public good”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In the OLD's arrangement the phrase first covers whatever concerns the whole people, public affairs and state business, as in rem publicam gerere or administrare, to manage public affairs, which is often said of generals conducting a war.^[2] It also means the welfare of the state, above all in e re publica, “in the public interest”, a phrase Cicero and Livy use.^[2][3] In the plural it can mean the resources of a state: Gaius Gracchus speaks of nations that lost res publicas suas through greed and folly.^[2][3] From there it is the body politic, the state, especially Rome, and any particular state with its constitution, as when Cicero discusses the three kinds of res publicae.^[2][3] Used pregnantly it means a free state in which all citizens take part, as opposed to tyranny, so that Cicero speaks of the hope of recovering the res publica.^[2] Lewis and Short note that poets, and prose writers from the Augustan period on, sometimes say simply rēs for the state.^[3] Ecclesiastical Latin keeps the senses republic, commonwealth, state, government and politics.^[7] Through French république it became English republic around 1600.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of the state and of the public good.^[2][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of the forms of state and of the free state as opposed to tyranny.^[2][3][6]
• c. 1600 – English takes republic from French, ultimately from this word.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. Public affairs, affairs of state, public business;^[2][3] rem publicam gerere, to manage the state's affairs or conduct a war.^[2][3]
2. The welfare of the state, the public good;^[2][3] e re publica, in the public interest.^[2][3]
3. (also plural) The resources of a state.^[2]
4. The body politic, the state, commonwealth, especially Rome; a particular state with its constitution.^[2][3]
5. A free state in which all citizens take part, a republic, as opposed to tyranny.^[2]
6. Politics, civil affairs, government.^[1][7]

Related words

• rēs
• pūblicus
• English republic

Usage notes

The two parts are sometimes separated by other words or put in reverse order, and in the sense “the state” the phrase is often abbreviated res p.^[2] Wiktionary compares English commonwealth.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson