Legislature

A legislature is a deliberative body with the power to make laws. This page is a source of ideas for giving names to alternate legislatures. It's a companion to the Alternate Names lists.

Names of legislatures
Name	Origin	Examples
Apella	Ancient Greek	Apella of Sparta
Assembly	Old French assembler < Latin assimulare, "unite, make similar"	National Assembly of Nicaragua House of Assembly of Dominica Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina People's Assembly of Abkhazia National People's Assembly of Guinea-Bissau Illinois General Assembly Legislative Assembly of Ontario
Boule	Ancient Greek (modern Greek vouli)	Boule of the Hellenes (Hellenic Parliament) Boule of Athens
Chief Pleas	French Chefs Plaids (originally "Court of Chief Pleas," a judicial body)	Chief Pleas of Sark Court of Chief Pleas of Guernsey
Commission	Latin commisio, "sending together"	European Commission Town and city commissions (Ireland, USA)
Congress	Latin congressus, "having walked together"	Congress of Colombia National Congress of Argentina National People's Congress (PRC) Congress of the Union (Mexico) Territorial Congress of New Caledonia United States of America in Congress Assembled (before 1787)
Convention	Latin conventio, "having come together"	Convention of the Estates of Scotland National Convention (France, 1792-5)
Council	Latin concilium, "called together"	Council of the European Union Council of Representatives of Iraq Sahrawi National Council National Council of Chiefs (Vanuatu) Maggior Consiglio (Republic of Venice) Council of the Indies Legislative Council of British Guiana
Court / Corte	Old French cort, "enclosed area, king's assembly"	New Hampshire General Court Great and General Court of Massachusetts Bay Cortes Gerais (Portugal) Cortes Generales (Spain) Danish Court (Danish Danehof)
Diet	Latin dieta < Greek diaita, "way of living, judgment"	Diet of Japan (Japanese Kokkai) (Holy Roman) Imperial Diet (Latin Dieta Imperii, German Reichstag) Federal Diet (Swiss Confederation)
Duma	Russian	Imperial State Duma State Duma of the Russian Federation
Ecclesia / Ekklesia	Ancient Greek^[1]	Ecclesia of Athens
Estates	French	Estates General (France) Estates of Württemberg
Folkmoot	Old English folcgemot	Folkmoots of Saxon England
Fono	Proto-Polynesian	American Samoa Fono General Fono of Tokelau
Gbara	Old Malinke	Gbara of the Mali Empire
Gerousia	Ancient Greek "gathering of old men"	Gerousia of Sparta
House / Chamber	English translation of various terms	House of Representatives of Libya House of Burgesses of Virginia House of Commons of Canada House of Keys (Isle of Man) House of Lords (Britain) House of Elders (Somaliland) Chamber of Deputies of Mexico Chamber of Representatives of Colombia Legislative Chamber of Uzbekistan
Junta	Spanish, "together"	General Junta of the Principality of Asturias
Kaupule	Tuvaluan	Falakaupule Kaupule Funafuti Kaupule Niutao
Knesset	Hebrew, "gathering"	Knesset of Israel
Kurultai / Qurultay	Mongolian	Kurultai of the Mongol Empire Qurultay of the Crimean People's Republic
Legislature	Latin	Legislature of Liberia National Legislature of South Sudan Arizona State Legislature
Majlis	Arabic	Majlis of Oman Iranian Majlis/Majles People's Majlis of the Maldives
Manhyiamu	Twi	Asantemanhyiamu (Asante empire)
Oireachtas	Irish	Oireachtas Éireann
Panchayat	Nepali	Rastriya Panchayat (National Panchayat of Nepal)
Parliament	French parlement, "a talk"	European Parliament Parliament of Australia National Parliament of Papua New Guinea Paruman Negara (Bali)
Rada / Råd / Rat / Raad	Old High German rat, "council" < Proto-Germanic rad, "advice"	Czech National Rada Rada of the Belarusian Democratic Republic Cossack Rada Greenland Landsråd Staatsrat of the DDR Volksraad (Transvaal)
Sanhedrin	Aramaic < Greek synedrion, "sitting together"	Great Sanhedrin (Judea) Grand Sanhedrin (Jews of Napoleonic France)
Sansad	Sanskrit	Bharatiya Sansad (Parliament of India)
Sejm	Polish	Sejm of the Republic of Poland Sejm of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth Saeima (Latvia) Seimas (Lithuania) Sejmik (small local Sejm)
Senate	Latin Senatus, "gathering of old men"	Senedd Cymru Roman Senate
Sobor	Old Slavonic	Zemsky Sobor (Russian Empire)
Soviet	Russian	Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union Petrograd Soviet
States	French (same as Estates)	States General of the Netherlands States of Guernsey
Tag / Dag	German Tag, "day, meeting". Compare Tagung, "meeting".^[2]	Reichstag/Bundestag (Germany) Landtag (German states) Riksdag (Sweden) Rigsdagen (Denmark)
Thing / Ting	Proto-Germanic thinga^[3]	Folketing (Denmark) Althing (Iceland) Storting (Norway) Tynwald (Isle of Man)
Tribunate	Latin	Tribunat (Napoleonic France) Comitia Tributa (Roman Republic)
Veche	Old Slavonic	Novgorod Veche Pskov Veche
Witan / Witenagemot	Old English, "meeting of wise men"	Witenagemot of Essex Witenagemot of England
Yuan	Chinese 院 "branch of government"	Legislative Yuan (Taiwan)

Notes[]

↑ In the Christian era, this term was adopted to mean "church" and is the source of the word for church in a number of languages.
↑ The word for "day" came to mean "meeting" probably by analogy with Latin dies, "day," which was incorrectly believed to be the source of the word dieta.
↑ In English, the meaning of the word thing evolved from an assembly, to a matter being considered by an assembly, to any issue at all, to any thing at all. But it kept its original meaning in the Scandinavian languages.

[1] In the Christian era, this term was adopted to mean "church" and is the source of the word for church in a number of languages.

[2] The word for "day" came to mean "meeting" probably by analogy with Latin dies, "day," which was incorrectly believed to be the source of the word dieta.

[3] In English, the meaning of the word thing evolved from an assembly, to a matter being considered by an assembly, to any issue at all, to any thing at all. But it kept its original meaning in the Scandinavian languages.

[1]

[2]

[3]