Crumpled piece of paper that reads Word Power

Word Power will be a weekly blog that is intended to teach you the etymology and construction of everyday words.  Etymology in short is understanding the origin of words and how the word has evolved throughout history.  Today’s lesson is to understand the etymology of the word republican and other words associated with it.

Republican (Noun):  [re-pub-li-can]

  1. One who favors a republic as the best form of government.
  2. A member of the Republican party of the United States.  (American Heritage Dictionary)

Etymology

The GOP Elephant Mascot balancing a globe on its trunkBefore Rome was the great Empire that stretched across the majority of Europe, North Africa, and Asia Minor, Rome was a Republic.  The word republican has its origins in the 6th century B.C. when Rome was established as a republic.  In order to understand the word republican, we need to drop off the suffix -an and get right to the root, republic.

Republic (Noun):  [re-pub-lic]

  1. A political order in which the supreme power lies in a body of citizens who are entitled to vote for officers and representatives responsible to them.
  2. A political order whose head of state is not a monarch and in modern times is usually a president. (American Heritage Dictionary)

Res

Unlike many Latin words, the word res was not used in the ancient greek language or culture.  The definition of res is a thing, matter, affair, object, etc.  There is not much to talk about with this word, except for the fact that its origin comes from the Indo-European root, re-.  Most of us use a derrivative of re- in every day speech, in the form of the word real, which in noun form means a thing having actual existence.

Publicus-a-um

In latin, the word publicus was an adjective that meant belonging to the people.  In two thousand years, the meaning of this word has not changed much.  The word public is commonly used today when referring to people in general.  Additionally, the root publicus can be seen in words such as publication (the act of making public) and pub (slang for a public house).  In 510 B.C., after the fall of the monarchy, Rome established res publica, which literally translated into a matter belonging to the people.  The two words joined in Roman times to form respublica and then when the French got a hold of this word, it became republique.  Eventually through the changing of dialects, the -que dropped off and was replaced by the letter c to make the word republic.

Summary

The term Republican in today’s society usually conjures up images of patriotic elephants and conservative right wing members of the GOP.  Although words and their meanings are an ever changing idea, the literal translation of republican is a person that belongs to all affairs of the people.  So the next time somebody starts talking trash about bipartisan nonsense, inform them that the true definition of the word republican actually means one that is simply involved in the affairs of the people and not one that divides the political process with their own self interests.

Extra Credit

The bipartisan system is not new to governments, actually the two party system has ancient roots firmly planted in the Roman Republic.  However, instead of Republicans and Democrats, they were called plebeians and patricians.  The Plebeians, also referred to as plebs, were the common citizens of the Roman Republic and the patricians were the elite nobles of Rome.  For hundreds of years these two parties clashed with each other trying to get their way and pass self serving legislature.

Tune in next week for the breakdown of the word Democrat.

Image Used In This Post

GOP elephant mascot image courtesy of Flickr user makelessnoise under the CC license.