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.
Name | Origin | Examples |
---|---|---|
Apella | Ancient Greek |
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Assembly | Old French assembler < Latin assimulare, "unite, make similar" |
|
Boule | Ancient Greek (modern Greek vouli) |
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Chief Pleas | French Chefs Plaids (originally "Court of Chief Pleas," a judicial body) |
|
Commission | Latin commisio, "sending together" |
|
Congress | Latin congressus, "having walked together" |
|
Convention | Latin conventio, "having come together" |
|
Council | Latin concilium, "called together" |
|
Court / Corte | Old French cort, "enclosed area, king's assembly" |
|
Diet | Latin dieta < Greek diaita, "way of living, judgment" |
|
Duma | Russian |
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Ecclesia / Ekklesia | Ancient Greek[1] |
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Estates | French |
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Folkmoot | Old English folcgemot |
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Fono | Proto-Polynesian |
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Gbara | Old Malinke |
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Gerousia | Ancient Greek "gathering of old men" |
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House / Chamber | English translation of various terms |
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Junta | Spanish, "together" |
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Kaupule | Tuvaluan |
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Knesset | Hebrew, "gathering" |
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Kurultai / Qurultay | Mongolian |
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Legislature | Latin |
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Majlis | Arabic |
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Manhyiamu | Twi |
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Oireachtas | Irish |
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Panchayat | Nepali |
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Parliament | French parlement, "a talk" |
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Rada / Råd / Rat / Raad | Old High German rat, "council" < Proto-Germanic rad, "advice" |
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Sanhedrin | Aramaic < Greek synedrion, "sitting together" |
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Sansad | Sanskrit |
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Sejm | Polish |
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Senate | Latin Senatus, "gathering of old men" |
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Sobor | Russian |
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Soviet | Russian |
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States | French (same as Estates) |
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Tag / Dag | German Tag, "day, meeting". Compare Tagung, "meeting".[2] |
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Thing / Ting | Proto-Germanic thinga[3] |
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Tribunate | Latin |
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Veche | Old Slavonic |
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Witan / Witenagemot | Old English, "meeting of wise men" |
|
Yuan | Chinese 院 "branch of government" |
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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.