Chapter 7

Politics

Politics has its roots in Aristotle’s treatise on statecraft titled Ta Politika, referring to affairs that concern the public—its origins lie in the Greek word polis ‘city, state’ (as in metropolis). Democracy, a system of government where the people play a part—typically by voting for their elected representatives—is from the Greek demos ‘people’ and kratia ‘power’. The word aristocracy originally referred to a form of government consisting of those considered to be the state’s best citizens—from Greek aristos ‘best’. It later came to signal those members of a society who were the most wealthy and of the most exalted birth, leading to its modern meaning, ‘nobility’. Numerous parallel terms have been coined using this formation, reflecting a range of approaches to government—encompassing meritocracy (government by those chosen on merit), plutocracy (where power is accorded to the richest people—from Greek ploutos ‘wealth’), and even kleptocracy, government by thieves (from Greek kleptes ‘thief’—as in kleptomania).

The word government is from Latin gubernare ‘to steer’, originally referring to someone who steers a ship. The word is ultimately based on Greek kubernetes ‘steersman’, the source of the twentieth-century formation cybernetics. Parliament is from French parler ‘to talk’, reflecting its function as a place for debate and discussion, or—more cynically—a talking shop. The same origin lies behind parlour, which was originally the name for a room in a monastery set aside for meeting and discoursing with guests. French parler has its roots in the Latin parabola ‘comparison’, which is also the origin of parable—a story with a moral message—ultimately from a Greek word meaning ‘place alongside’. The cabinet, formed of the senior ministers responsible for deciding policy, gets its name from the private chamber in which it meets; the word literally means ‘little cabin’. A similar origin lies behind Cobra—the title given to the emergency meetings convened at times of national crisis. Despite its sinister-sounding name (sinister from a Latin word meaning ‘left hand’), its origins are disappointingly practical—Cobra stands for Cabinet Office Briefing Room A. The exchequer is etymologically connected to the word chess (via medieval Latin scaccus ‘check’), since the Norman administrators practised their accounting using counters on a chequered board, known as an exchequer.

Elections

The word campaigning draws upon a term first used in a military context; it originates in Latin campania ‘open countryside’, and referred to the practice of an army moving from a fortress to the open field during the summer months. Those submitting to the process are termed candidates, from the Latin candidus ‘white’, since one who aspired to public office was expected to wear a white toga to reflect their spotless character. In order to win an election, candidates engage in canvassing, a metaphorical use that reflects the way that discussing an issue was likened to tossing something in a canvas sheet. Candidates travelling extensively in an effort to build support for their campaign are the source of the word ambitious, which is from Latin ambire ‘to go about’. Hustings, public forums at which candidates set out their policies and answer questions from the electorate, is from the Old Norse husthing—the term for a household assembly. Husthing is a compound of hus ‘house’ and thing, the Norse word for a parliament, still used in the name of the Icelandic National Parliament, the Alþingi. The word vote originates in the Latin votum ‘vow, offering, prayer’; an alternative Latin term was suffragium, from which we get suffrage and suffragette. The process of voting involves placing a tick on a ballot paper; ballot is from Italian ballotta ‘little ball’, and refers to an earlier practice of registering a vote by dropping coloured balls into a container. This method of casting a vote lies behind the phrase blackball, referring to the rejection of a candidate for membership of some exclusive establishment by placing a black ball into the box. The study of elections and voting is known as psephology, from Greek psephos ‘pebble’, referencing a similar practice of using small stones to cast votes. Predictions of outcomes draw upon exit polls; from a Germanic word meaning ‘head’, a poll came to refer to the number of people determined by counting heads—from which the sense of the number of votes cast emerged.