δημοκρατία

See also: δημοκρατίᾳ

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

• δᾱμοκρᾰτίᾱ (dāmokratíā) — Doric

Etymology

Derived from δῆμος (dêmos, “common people", "assembly of the people”) +‎ -κρατία (-kratía, “power”, “rule”).

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /dɛː.mo.kra.tí.aː/ → /ði.mo.kraˈti.a/ → /ði.mo.kraˈti.a/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /dɛː.mo.kra.tí.aː/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /de̝.mo.kraˈti.a/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ði.mo.kraˈti.a/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ði.mo.kraˈti.a/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ði.mo.kraˈti.a/

Noun

δημοκρᾰτῐ́ᾱ • (dēmokratíā) f (genitive δημοκρᾰτῐ́ᾱς); first declension

1. (politics, uncountable) democracy, popular government
2. (countable) a democratic government
   • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 6.43.3:

     Τοὺς γὰρ τυράννους τῶν Ἰώνων καταπαύσας πάντας ὁ Μαρδόνιος δημοκρατίας κατίστα ἐς τὰς πόλιας.

     Toùs gàr turánnous tôn Iṓnōn katapaúsas pántas ho Mardónios dēmokratías katísta es tàs pólias.

     • 1910 translation by George Rawlinson

       Mardonius put down all the despots throughout Ionia, and in lieu of them established democracies

   • 46 CE – 120 CE, Plutarch, Banquet of the Seven Sages 154e:

     Ὁ Βίας ἔφησε κρατίστην εἶναι δημοκρατίαν ἐν ᾗ πάντες ὡς τύραννον φοβοῦνται τὸν νόμον.

     Ho Bías éphēse kratístēn eînai dēmokratían en hêi pántes hōs túrannon phoboûntai tòn nómon.

     Bias said that the strongest democracy is that wherein all fear the law as their tyrant.

3. inflection of δημοκρᾰτῐ́ᾱ (dēmokratíā):
   1. nominative/vocative singular
   2. nominative/accusative/vocative dual

Inflection

First declension of ἡ δημοκρᾰτῐ́ᾱ; τῆς δημοκρᾰτῐ́ᾱς (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ἡ δημοκρᾰτῐ́ᾱ hē dēmokratíā	τὼ δημοκρᾰτῐ́ᾱ tṑ dēmokratíā	αἱ δημοκρᾰτῐ́αι hai dēmokratíai
Genitive	τῆς δημοκρᾰτῐ́ᾱς tês dēmokratíās	τοῖν δημοκρᾰτῐ́αιν toîn dēmokratíain	τῶν δημοκρᾰτῐῶν tôn dēmokratiôn
Dative	τῇ δημοκρᾰτῐ́ᾳ têi dēmokratíāi	τοῖν δημοκρᾰτῐ́αιν toîn dēmokratíain	ταῖς δημοκρᾰτῐ́αις taîs dēmokratíais
Accusative	τὴν δημοκρᾰτῐ́ᾱν tḕn dēmokratíān	τὼ δημοκρᾰτῐ́ᾱ tṑ dēmokratíā	τᾱ̀ς δημοκρᾰτῐ́ᾱς tā̀s dēmokratíās
Vocative	δημοκρᾰτῐ́ᾱ dēmokratíā	δημοκρᾰτῐ́ᾱ dēmokratíā	δημοκρᾰτῐ́αι dēmokratíai
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

• δημοκρᾰτέω/-ῶ, δημοκρᾰτέομαι/-οῦμαι
• Δημοκρᾰτῐ́ᾱ (Dēmokratíā)
• δημοκρᾰτῐκός (dēmokratikós)

Descendants

• Greek: δημοκρατία f (dimokratía)
• Latin: dēmocratia (Mediaeval)
  • Middle French: democratie
    • French: démocratie
      • → Danish: demokrati n
      • → Dutch: democratie f, demokratie (before 1996)
        • Afrikaans: demokrasie
        • → Malay: demokrasi

          → Indonesian: démokrasi

        • → Peranakan Indonesian: democratie
      • → German: Demokratie f
      • → Hebrew: דֵּמוֹקְרַטְיָה f
      • → Persian: دموکراسی (demokrâsi)
      • → Romanian: democrație f
      • → Turkish: demokrasi
    • → Norman: démocratie
    • → Czech: demokracie
    • → English: democracy
      • → Amharic: ዴሞክራሲ (demokrasi)
      • → Burmese: ဒီမိုကရေစီ (dimuika.reci)
      • → Chinese: 得莫克拉西 (démòkèlāxī), 德謨克拉西／德谟克拉西 (démókèlāxī)
      • → Malay: demokrasi
      • → S'gaw Karen: ဒံၣ်မိၣ်ခြ့ၣ်စံၣ် (deè moh̀ khraỳ seè)
      • → Swahili: demokrasia
      • → Western Kayah: ꤘꤟꤤ꤬ꤗꤥ꤬ꤊꤚꤢꤩ꤬ꤎꤤ꤬ (dì̤mòkrèsì)
  • Italian: democrazia
  • Portuguese: democracia
  • Sicilian: dimucrazzìa
  • Spanish: democracia
  • Norwegian Bokmål: demokrati
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: demokrati
  • Swedish: demokrati
• Russian: демокра́тия f (demokrátija) (see there for further descendants)

See also

• ἰσονομία (isonomía)

References

• “δημοκρατία”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “δημοκρατία”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• δημοκρατία in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• δημοκρατία in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (2006–2024)
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎^[1], London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • commonwealth idem, page 149.
  • democracy idem, page 209.
  • republic idem, page 699.

Greek

Etymology

From Ancient Greek δημοκρᾰτῐ́ᾱ (dēmokratíā, “democracy, popular government”). By surface analysis, δημο- (dimo-, “from δῆμος the people”) +‎ -κρατία (-kratía, “from κράτος strength; dominion, state”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ði.mo.kɾaˈti.a/

• Audio (male voice):

  (file)

• Audio (female voice):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: δη‧μο‧κρα‧τί‧α

Noun

δημοκρατία • (dimokratía) f (plural δημοκρατίες)

1. democracy
2. republic

   Ελληνική Δημοκρατία ― Ellinikí Dimokratía ― Hellenic Republic

Declension

	singular	plural
nominative	δημοκρατία (dimokratía)	δημοκρατίες (dimokratíes)
genitive	δημοκρατίας (dimokratías)	δημοκρατιών (dimokratión)
accusative	δημοκρατία (dimokratía)	δημοκρατίες (dimokratíes)
vocative	δημοκρατία (dimokratía)	δημοκρατίες (dimokratíes)

Derived terms

• Δημοκρατία των Σκοπίων f (Dimokratía ton Skopíon, “Republic of Skopje”)
• Ελληνική Δημοκρατία f (Ellinikí Dimokratía, “Hellenic Republic”)
• Κεντροαφρικανική Δημοκρατία f (Kentroafrikanikí Dimokratía, “Central African Republic”)

Related terms

• see: δήμος m (dímos, “municipality, the people”)

Further reading

• δημοκρατία on the Greek Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^el