demos

English

Etymology 1

From Ancient Greek δῆμος (dêmos, “ordinary citizens, common people from a district, in a city-state”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈdiːmɒs/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈdiˌmɑs/, /ˈdiˌmɔs/

Noun

demos (plural demoses or demoi)

1. (originally Ancient Greece) An ancient subdivision of Attica; (now also) a Greek municipality, an administrative area covering a city or several villages together.
2. (political science, singular or plural) The ordinary citizens of an ancient Greek city-state; hence, the common populace of a state or district (especially a democratic one); the people.
   • 2007, Tim Blanning, The Pursuit of Glory, Penguin, published 2008, page 323:

     When the demos took charge, law and order inevitably collapsed, or so they concluded.

Etymology 2

Inflected forms.

Noun

demos

1. plural of demo

Anagrams

• Domes, desmo, desmo-, domes, modes

Galician

Noun

demos

1. plural of demo

Verb

demos

1. first-person plural preterite indicative of dar
2. (reintegrationist norm) inflection of dar:
   1. first-person plural preterite indicative
   2. first-person plural present subjunctive
   3. first-person plural imperative

Latin

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek δῆμος (dêmos, “ people”).

Pronunciation

• dēmos: (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈdeː.mos/,
• dēmos: (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈde.mos/,
• dēmōs: (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈdeː.moːs/,
• dēmōs: (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈde.mos/,

Noun

dēmos m (genitive dēmī); second declension

1. a tract of land, a demos, a deme
2. the inhabitants of a dēmos: people, especially the common people
   • AD 77–79, Gaius Plinius Secundus (author), Karl Friedrich Theodor Mayhoff (editor), Naturalis Historia (1906), book xxxv, chapter 30:

     pinxit demon atheniensium argumento quoque ingenioso. ostendebat namque varium: iracundum iniustum inconstantem, eundem exorabilem clementem misericordem; gloriosum…, excelsum humilem, ferocem fugacemque et omnia pariter.

     In his allegorical picture of the People of Athens, he has displayed singular ingenuity in the treatment of his subject; for in representing it, he had to depict it as at once fickle, choleric, unjust, and versatile; while, again, he had equally to show its attributes of implacability and clemency, compassionateness and pride, loftiness and humility, fierceness and timidity — and all these at once. ― translation from: John Bostock, The Natural History (1855), book xxxv, chap. 36

Declension

Second-declension noun (Greek-type).

Synonyms

• (tract of land): pāgus (Pure Latin)
• (inhabitants of a demos):
  • (people): populus
  • (common people): vulgus

Related terms

• dēmocratia (Mediaeval Latin)

Noun

dēmōs m

1. accusative plural of dēmos

References

• “dēmos”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• dēmŏs in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette, page 494/3.

  Lists both senses.

  Lists only the “people” sense.

Portuguese

Pronunciation 1

• Hyphenation: de‧mos

Verb

demos

1. first-person plural preterite indicative of dar

Pronunciation 2

• Hyphenation: de‧mos

Noun

demos

1. plural of demo

Verb

demos

1. inflection of dar:
   1. first-person plural present subjunctive
   2. first-person plural imperative

Alternative forms

• dêmos

Romanian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Greek demos.

Noun

demos n (uncountable)

1. demos

Declension

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdemos/
• Rhymes: -emos
• Syllabification: de‧mos

Noun

demos m pl

1. plural of demo

Verb

demos

1. inflection of dar:
   1. first-person plural present subjunctive
   2. first-person plural imperative