Definitions  [Top]

metropolitan (n.)
mid-14c., “bishop having general superintendency over other bishops of his province,” from Late Latin metropolitanus, from Greek metropolis “mother city” (from which others have been colonized), parent state of a colony,” also “capital city,” and, in Ecclesiastical Greek, “see of a metropolitan bishop,” from meter “mother” (see mother (n.1)) + polis “city” (see polis). In the early church, the bishop of a municipal capital of a province or eparchy, who had general superintendence over the bishops in his province. In modern Catholic use, an archbishop who has bishops under his authority; in the Greek church still the bishop of a municipal capital of a province, ranking above an archbishop. also from mid-14c.

polis (n.)
“ancient Greek city-state,” 1894, from Greek polis, ptolis “citadel, fort, city, one’s city; the state, community, citizens,” from PIE *tpolh- “citadel; enclosed space, often on high ground; hilltop” (source also of Sanskrit pur, puram, genitive purah “city, citadel,” Lithuanian pilis “fortress”). also from 1894

politic (adj.)
early 15c., politike, “pertaining to public affairs, concerning the governance of a country or people,” from Old French politique “political” (14c.) and directly from Latin politicus “of citizens or the state, civil, civic,” from Greek politikos “of citizens, pertaining to the state and its administration; pertaining to public life,” from polites “citizen,” from polis “city” (see polis). It has been replaced in most of the earliest senses by political. From mid-15c. as “prudent, judicious,” originally of rulers: “characterized by policy.” Body politic “a political entity, a country” (with French word order) is from late 15c.

polity (n.)
1530s, “civil organization;” 1640s, “an organized human society or community, body of persons forming a community governed according to a recognized system of government,” from French politie (early 15c.) or directly from Late Latin polita “organized government” (see policy (n.1)).

police (n.)
1530s, “the regulation and control of a community” (similar in sense to policy (n.1)); from Middle French police “organized government, civil administration” (late 15c.), from Latin politia “civil administration,” from Greek polis “city” (see polis). Until mid-19c. used in England for “civil administration;” application to “administration of public order, law-enforcement in a community” (1716) is from French (late 17c.), and originally in English referred to France or other foreign nations. The sense of “an organized civil force for maintaining order, preventing and detecting crime, etc.” is by 1800; the first force so-named in England was the Marine Police, set up 1798 to protect merchandise at the Port of London. Meaning “body of officers entrusted with the duty of enforcing laws, detecting crime, etc.” is from 1810. In its most common acceptation, the police signifies the administration of the municipal laws and regulations of a city or incorporated town or borough by a corps of administrative or executive officers, with the necessary magistrates for the immediate use of force in compelling obedience and punishing violation of the laws, as distinguished from judicial remedies by action, etc. The primary object of the police system is the prevention of crime and the pursuit of offenders; but it is also subservient to other purposes, such as the suppression of mendicancy, the preservation of order, the removal of obstructions and nuisances, and the enforcing of those local and general laws which relate to the public health, order, safety, and comfort. [Century Dictionary, 1895]

policy (n.1)
[“way of management”], late 14c., policie, “study or practice of government; good government;” from Old French policie (14c.) “political organization, civil administration,” from Late Latin politia “the state, civil administration,” from Greek politeia “state, administration, government, citizenship,” from politēs “citizen,” from polis “city, state” (see polis). From early 15c. as “an organized state, organized or established system of government or administration of a state,” but this sense has gone with polity. Also from early 15c. as “object or course of conduct, or the principles to be observed in conduct,” and thus “prudence or wisdom in action” generally, but especially “the system of measures or the line of conduct which a ruler, minister, government, or party adopts as best for the interests of the country in domestic or foreign affairs.”

civil (adj.)
late 14c., “relating to civil law or life; pertaining to the internal affairs of a state,” from Old French civil “civil, relating to civil law” (13c.) and directly from Latin civilis “relating to a society, pertaining to public life, relating to the civic order, befitting a citizen,” hence by extension “popular, affable, courteous;” alternative adjectival derivative of civis “townsman” (see city).
Meaning “not barbarous, civilized” is from 1550s. Specifically “relating to the commonwealth as secularly organized” (as opposed to military or ecclesiastical) by 1610s. Meaning “relating to the citizen in his relation to the commonwealth or to fellow citizens” also is from 1610s.

secular (adj.)
c. 1300, seculer, in reference to clergy, “living in the world, not belonging to a religious order,” also generally, “belonging to the state” (as opposed to the Church), from Old French seculer, seculare (Modern French séculier) and directly from Late Latin saecularis “worldly, secular, pertaining to a generation or age,” in classical Latin “of or belonging to an age, occurring once in an age,” from saeculum “age, span of time, lifetime, generation, breed.”This is from Proto-Italic *sai-tlo-, which, according to Watkins, is PIE instrumental element *-tlo- + *sai- “to bind, tie” (see sinew), extended metaphorically to successive human generations as links in the chain of life. De Vaan also connects it with “bind” words and lists as a cognate Welsh hoedl “lifespan, age.” An older theory connected it to words for “seed,” from PIE root *se- “to sow” (see sow (v.), and compare Gothic mana-seþs “mankind, world,” literally “seed of men”). The ancient Roman ludi saeculares was a three-day, day-and-night celebration coming once in an “age” (120 years).  Ecclesiastical writers in Latin used it as those in Greek did aiōn “of this world” (see cosmos). It is the source of French siècle “century.” The meaning “of or belonging to an age or a long period,” especially occurring once in a century, was in English from 1590s. From mid-14c. in the general sense of “of or belonging to the world, concerned in earthly more than in spiritual, life;” also of literature, music, etc., “not overtly religious.” In English, in reference to humanism and the exclusion of belief in God from matters of ethics and morality, from 1850s. Related: Secularly.

commonwealth (n.)
mid-15c., commoun welthe, “a community, whole body of people in a state,” from common (adj.) + wealth (n.). Specifically “state with a republican or democratic form of government” from 1610s. From 1550s as “any body of persons united by some common interest.” Applied specifically to the government of England in the period 1649-1660, and later to self-governing former colonies under the British crown (1917). In the U.S., it forms a part of the official name of Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Virginia, Kentucky, and Puerto Rico but has no special significance.

common (n.)
c. 1300, “a fellowship or brotherhood; early 14c., “people of a community or town, freemen, citizenry;” late 15c., “land held in common,” from Old French commune and Medieval Latin communia, and partly from common (adj.). Also compare commons. Latin communis “common, general” (adj.) also served as a noun meaning “common property; state, commonwealth.”

officer (n.)
early 14c., “one who holds an official post, one entrusted with a responsibility or share of the management of some undertaking” (originally a high office), from Old French oficier “officer, official” (early 14c., Modern French officier), from Medieval Latin officiarius “an officer,” from Latin officium “a service, a duty” (see office).
In Middle English also “a servant, a retainer of a great household; an official at court” (late 14c.). From late 14c. as “a military retainer,” but the modern military sense of “one who holds a commission in the army or navy” is from 1560s. Applied to petty officials of justice from 16c.; U.S. use in reference to policemen is from 1880s.

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