syndic

English

WOTD – 15 July 2021

Etymology

Rembrandt, De Staalmeesters (The Sampling Officials) or De waardijns van het Amsterdamse lakenbereidersgilde (Syndics of the Drapers’ Guild, 1662),^{[n 1]} which depicts officials of the Drapers’ Guild of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, elected to assess the quality of cloth offered by weavers for sale to guild members.

Borrowed from French syndic (“delegated representative; a chief magistrate of Geneva; a censor; critic (obsolete)”), from Late Latin syndicus (“representative of a corporation or town, syndic”), from Ancient Greek σύνδικος (súndikos, “advocate of a defendant”), from σῠν- (sun-, prefix meaning ‘together, with’) + δῐ́κη (díkē, “law, order; right; judgment; justice; lawsuit; trial”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *deyḱ- (“to point out”)) + -ος (-os, suffix forming nouns).^[1]

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ˈsɪndɪk/

• Audio (Received Pronunciation):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪndɪk
• Hyphenation: syn‧dic

Noun

syndic (plural syndics)

1. (government) A government official having different duties depending on the country; also, a magistrate, especially one of the Chief Magistrates of Geneva, Switzerland.
   • 1610 October, John Foxe, “A Notable History of the Persecution and Destruction of the People of Merindol and Cabriers in the Country of Prouince: […]”, in The Second Volume of the Ecclesiasticall Historie, Containing the Acts and Monuments of Martyrs, […], 6th edition, volume II, London: […] [Humphrey Lownes] for the Company of Stationers, →OCLC, book VII, marginal note, page 867, column 2:

     The Bailiffes and Syndicks of Merindoll appeare the ſecond time.

   • 1640, John Reynolds, “History XVII”, in The Triumphs of Gods Revenge against the Crying and Execrable Sinne of (Wilfull and Premeditated) Murther. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Edward Griffin for William Lee, […], →OCLC, book IV, page 269:

     [T]he two Syndicks and the reſt of the Magiſtrates of that City began to pry more narrowly into their ſtay, and more neerely into their actions; […]

   • 1694, [Giovanni Paolo Marana], “Letter I. To Hamet, Reis Effendi, Principal Secretary of the Ottoman Empire.”, in [Daniel Saltmarsh], transl., The Eighth and Last Volume of Letters Writ by a Turkish Spy, Who Liv’d Five and Forty Years Undiscover’d at Paris: […], volume VIII, London: […] J. R. for J. Hindmarsh and R. Sare, […], →OCLC, book IV, page 232:

     This City is govern'd by a Syndick and Twenty Five Senators, who meet every Day to conſult about the Affairs of the Commonwealth, and to decide all Cauſes, whether Criminal or Civil.

   • 1905, Mauritius, Sir Francis Taylor Piggott, Louis Arthur Thibaud ·, Ordinances, page 819:

     A syndic shall be appointed for every canal not being administered by a corporation or other public body on behalf of any part of the community.

   • 1923, J[oseph] C[harles] Mardrus, “The Tale of the Christian Broker”, in [Edward] Powys Mathers, transl., The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night […], London: Routledge & Kegal Paul […], published 1956, →OCLC, page 253:

     To-morrow, after the midday prayer, mount an ass and make for the Habbānīyah quarter and there inquire for the house of the syndic Barakah, known as Abū Shāmah.

   • 1963, C.L.R. James, The Black Jacobins, 2nd Revised edition, Vintage Books, published 2023, →ISBN, page 35:

     In 1760 one Intendant went so far as to dissolve the militia altogether and appointed syndics to carry on the local government.

2. (chiefly British) An agent of a corporation, or of any body of people engaged in a business enterprise; specifically, in the University of Cambridge, a member of the senate appointed to carry out specific duties.

   In France, syndics are appointed by the creditors of a bankrupt to manage the property.

   The University of Cambridge has syndics who are chosen from the senate to transact special business, such as the regulation of fees and the framing of laws.

   • 1890, Southern Reporter - Volume 6, page 99:

     The duties and powers of a provisional syndic are distinctly set out in section 1793 of the Revised Statutes. It says that "the duties of the provisional syndic shall consist in keeping, as a deposit, all the goods and other effects of the insolvent debtor; […] "

   • 1896, William L. Stewart, The Snow-Church Company's Legal and Banking Year Book, page 250:

     After such cession and acceptance, property of debtor mentioned in schedule shall be vested in creditors; and syndic shall take possession of same and administer and sell according to law.

   • 1918, Edward Franklin White, William Kernan Dart, Louisiana Digest Annotated, page 123:

     A judgment homologating the final account of the syndic of an insolvent estate, which becomes final, is res judicata to all parties who participated in the cession or in concurso.

3. (Catholicism) A layperson who is given official responsibility for the finances, care, and civil administration of the nonreligious details of a convent or religious community.
   • 1912, Catholic Encyclopedia - Volume 14, page 385:

     The larger powers with which the syndic was invested by Martin IV and by his successors, Martin V ("Constitutiones Martinianae") in Wadding, "Annales", X, 301) and Paul IV ("Ex Clementi", 1 July, 1555), gave rise to the appellation syndicus Martinianus in contradistinction to syndicus communis.

Alternative forms

• syndick (obsolete)

Derived terms

• syndicship

Related terms

• syndical
• syndicalism
• syndicate
• syndicateer
• syndication
• syndicator

 

Translations

government official having different duties depending on the country

Bulgarian: висш администратор (visš administrator) Estonian: sündik French: syndic (fr) m, syndique (fr) f Ido: sindiko (io) Italian: sindaco (it) m, sindaca (it) f Latin: syndicus m, ecdicus m Occitan: sendegue Spanish: síndico (es) m, síndica f

agent of a corporation, or of any body of people engaged in a business enterprise

Bulgarian: синдик (bg) m (sindik) Catalan: síndic (ca) m, síndica (ca) f Esperanto: sindiko Portuguese: síndico (pt) m, síndica f

See also

• Thesaurus:official

Notes

1. From the collection of the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam in the Netherlands.

References

1. “syndic, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1919; “syndic, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

French

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Late Latin syndicus (“representative of a corporation or town, syndic”), itself a borrowing from Ancient Greek σύνδικος (súndikos, “advocate of a defendant”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sɛ̃.dik/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

syndic m (plural syndics, feminine syndique)

1. syndic

Related terms

• syndicat
• syndical

Further reading

• “syndic”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.