politia

See also: poliția

Latin

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek πολῑτείᾱ (polīteíā, “citizenship; government; civil polity”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /po.liːˈtiː.a/, [pɔlʲiːˈt̪iːä]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /po.liˈti.a/, [poliˈt̪iːä]

Noun

polītīa f (genitive polītīae); first declension

1. (Late Latin) state, government, administration
   • 1313, Dante Alighieri, “Liber I [Book 1]”, in De monarchia [About monarchy]:

     Genus humanum solum imperante Monarcha, sui, et non alterius gratia, est: tunc enim solum Politiae diriguntur obliquae, democratiae scilicet, oligarchiae atque tyrannides, quae in servitute cogunt genus humanum.

     Only when the monarch rules, mankind exists for his own sake, and not of others: for only then are the twisted governments rightened, namely democracies, oligarchies and tyrannies, which force mankind into slavery.

Declension

First-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	polītīa	polītīae
genitive	polītīae	polītīārum
dative	polītīae	polītīīs
accusative	polītīam	polītīās
ablative	polītīā	polītīīs
vocative	polītīa	polītīae

Descendants

• → Catalan: policia
• → Middle French: policie, politie
  • → English: policy, polity
  • → Middle Dutch: policie
    • Dutch: politie
  • → Middle Low German: politīe
    • → Danish: politi
  • → Middle High German: policei
    • German: Polizei
      • → Czech: policie
      • → Pannonian Rusyn: полицай (policaj)
      • → Romanian: polițai
      • → Ukrainian: поліца́й (policáj)
  • French: police
    • → English: police
    • → Romanian: poliție
    • → Swedish: polis
• → Galician: policía
• → Italian: polizia
• → Occitan: polícia
• → Portuguese: polícia
• → Sicilian: pulizzìa, polizzìa, polizzia, pulizzia
• → Spanish: policía

Further reading

• “politia”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “politia”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• politia in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• politia in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

Romanian

Noun

politia

1. definite nominative/accusative singular of politie