democracy English · revision 4668

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1531|origins=grc δημοκρατία}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: UK /dɪˈmɒk.rə.si/, US /dɪˈmɑːk.rə.si/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|frm|démocratie]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) from [[la-med|dēmocratia]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) from [[grc|δημοκρατία|tr=dēmokratía|t=popular government]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) from dêmos “common people”, originally “district”, and krátos “rule, strength”.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Cresswell 2021) Greek dêmos, earlier dâmos, is cognate with Old Irish dám “following, crowd”, from PIE *dāmos “a division of the people”, from *dā- “to divide”.^(Barnhart 1988) It is related to [[demagogue]], [[epidemic]] and [[demotic]].^(Cresswell 2021)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Government by the people: 1531 in the OED, 1539 in MWU,^(OED 1989)^(MWU 2024) 1574 in Barnhart and the 1570s in Etymonline.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) It was spelled democratie at first, and democracy gradually replaced it in the 17th and early 18th centuries.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ A state governed by the people is from 1574.^(OED 1989) In 19th-century England the word could mean the common people, the class with no hereditary rank (1827),^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline) and in American politics the principles or members of the Democratic Party (1825).^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) ''Democrat'' was first a republican of the French Revolution (1790), formed after aristocrate, and a member of the American party from 1839;^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986) ''democratic'' is from 1602, and as the name of the party from 1829.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1531 – government by the people.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1574 – a democratic state.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1602 – ''democratic''.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1790 – ''democrat''.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1825 – the Democratic Party.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1827 – the common people.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A system of [[government]] in which the people rule, directly or through elected representatives.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A [[country]] with such a government.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # Fair and equal treatment of everyone in an organization, with a share in decisions.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # The common people, seen as the source of political power.^(AHD)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[antidemocracy]]

+ * [[democratize]]

+ * [[nondemocracy]]

+ * [[predemocracy]]

+ * [[participatory democracy]]

+ * [[pure democracy]]

+ * [[social democracy]]

+ * [[Tory Democracy]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[democrat]]

+ * [[democratic]]

+ * [[demagogue]]

+ * [[epidemic]]

+ * [[demotic]]

+ * [[aristocracy]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}