δημοκρατία

See also: δημοκρατίᾳ

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

• δᾱμοκρᾰτίᾱ (dāmokrătíā) — Doric

Etymology

Derived from δῆμος (dêmos, “common people", "assembly of the people”) +‎ -κρατία (-kratía, “power”, “rule”).

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /dɛː.mo.kra.tí.aː/ → /ði.mo.kraˈti.a/ → /ði.mo.kraˈti.a/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /dɛː.mo.kra.tí.aː/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /de̝.mo.kraˈti.a/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ði.mo.kraˈti.a/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ði.mo.kraˈti.a/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ði.mo.kraˈti.a/

Noun

δημοκρᾰτῐ́ᾱ • (dēmokrătĭ́ā) f (genitive δημοκρᾰτῐ́ᾱς); first declension

1. (politics, uncountable) democracy, popular government
2. (countable) a democratic government
   • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 6.43.3:

     Τοὺς γὰρ τυράννους τῶν Ἰώνων καταπαύσας πάντας ὁ Μαρδόνιος δημοκρατίας κατίστα ἐς τὰς πόλιας.

     Toùs gàr turánnous tôn Iṓnōn katapaúsas pántas ho Mardónios dēmokratías katísta es tàs pólias.

     • 1910 translation by George Rawlinson

       Mardonius put down all the despots throughout Ionia, and in lieu of them established democracies

   • 46 CE – 120 CE, Plutarch, Banquet of the Seven Sages 154e:

     Ὁ Βίας ἔφησε κρατίστην εἶναι δημοκρατίαν ἐν ᾗ πάντες ὡς τύραννον φοβοῦνται τὸν νόμον.

     Ho Bías éphēse kratístēn eînai dēmokratían en hêi pántes hōs túrannon phoboûntai tòn nómon.

     Bias said that the strongest democracy is that wherein all fear the law as their tyrant.

3. inflection of δημοκρᾰτῐ́ᾱ (dēmokrătĭ́ā):
   1. nominative/vocative singular
   2. nominative/accusative/vocative dual

Inflection

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ἡ δημοκρᾰτῐ́ᾱ hē dēmokrătĭ́ā	τὼ δημοκρᾰτῐ́ᾱ tṑ dēmokrătĭ́ā	αἱ δημοκρᾰτῐ́αι hai dēmokrătĭ́ai
Genitive	τῆς δημοκρᾰτῐ́ᾱς tês dēmokrătĭ́ās	τοῖν δημοκρᾰτῐ́αιν toîn dēmokrătĭ́ain	τῶν δημοκρᾰτῐῶν tôn dēmokrătĭôn
Dative	τῇ δημοκρᾰτῐ́ᾳ têi dēmokrătĭ́āi	τοῖν δημοκρᾰτῐ́αιν toîn dēmokrătĭ́ain	ταῖς δημοκρᾰτῐ́αις taîs dēmokrătĭ́ais
Accusative	τὴν δημοκρᾰτῐ́ᾱν tḕn dēmokrătĭ́ān	τὼ δημοκρᾰτῐ́ᾱ tṑ dēmokrătĭ́ā	τᾱ̀ς δημοκρᾰτῐ́ᾱς tā̀s dēmokrătĭ́ās
Vocative	δημοκρᾰτῐ́ᾱ dēmokrătĭ́ā	δημοκρᾰτῐ́ᾱ dēmokrătĭ́ā	δημοκρᾰτῐ́αι dēmokrătĭ́ai
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

First declension of ἡ δημοκρᾰτῐ́ᾱ; τῆς δημοκρᾰτῐ́ᾱς (Attic)

Derived terms

• δημοκρᾰτέω/-ῶ, δημοκρᾰτέομαι/-οῦμαι
• Δημοκρᾰτῐ́ᾱ (Dēmokrătĭ́ā)
• δημοκρᾰτῐκός (dēmokrătĭkós)

Descendants

• Greek: δημοκρατία f (dimokratía)
• Latin: dēmocratia (Mediaeval)
  • Middle French: democratie
    • French: démocratie
      • → Danish: demokrati n
      • → Dutch: democratie f, demokratie (before 1996)
        • Afrikaans: demokrasie
        • → Malay: demokrasi

          → Indonesian: démokrasi

        • → Peranakan Indonesian: democratie
      • → German: Demokratie f
      • → Hebrew: דֵּמוֹקְרַטְיָה f
      • → Persian: دموکراسی (demokrâsi)
      • → Romanian: democrație f
      • → Turkish: demokrasi
    • → Norman: démocratie
    • → Czech: demokracie
    • → English: democracy
      • → Amharic: ዴሞክራሲ (demokrasi)
      • → Burmese: ဒီမိုကရေစီ (dimuika.reci)
      • → Chinese: 得莫克拉西 (démòkèlāxī), 德謨克拉西 / 德谟克拉西 (démókèlāxī)
      • → Malay: demokrasi
      • → S'gaw Karen: ဒံၣ်မိၣ်ခြ့ၣ်စံၣ် (deè moh̀ khraỳ seè)
      • → Swahili: demokrasia
      • → Western Kayah: ꤘꤟꤤ꤬ꤗꤥ꤬ꤊꤚꤢꤩ꤬ꤎꤤ꤬ (dì̤mòkrèsì)
  • Italian: democrazia
  • Portuguese: democracia
  • Sicilian: dimucrazzìa
  • Spanish: democracia
  • Norwegian Bokmål: demokrati
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: demokrati
  • Swedish: demokrati
• Russian: демокра́тия f (demokrátija) (see there for further descendants)

See also

• ἰσονομία (isonomía)

References

• “δημοκρατία”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “δημοκρατία”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• δημοκρατία in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• δημοκρατία in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (2006–2025)
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • commonwealth idem, page 149.
  • democracy idem, page 209.
  • republic idem, page 699.

Greek

Etymology

From Ancient Greek δημοκρᾰτῐ́ᾱ (dēmokrătĭ́ā, “democracy, popular government”). By surface analysis, δημο- (dimo-, “from δῆμος the people”) +‎ -κρατία (-kratía, “from κράτος strength; dominion, state”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ði.mo.kɾaˈti.a/

• Audio (male voice):

  (file)

• Audio (female voice):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: δη‧μο‧κρα‧τί‧α

Noun

δημοκρατία • (dimokratía) f (plural δημοκρατίες)

1. democracy
2. republic

   Ελληνική Δημοκρατία ― Ellinikí Dimokratía ― Hellenic Republic

Declension

Declension of δημοκρατία

	singular	plural
nominative	δημοκρατία (dimokratía)	δημοκρατίες (dimokratíes)
genitive	δημοκρατίας (dimokratías)	δημοκρατιών (dimokratión)
accusative	δημοκρατία (dimokratía)	δημοκρατίες (dimokratíes)
vocative	δημοκρατία (dimokratía)	δημοκρατίες (dimokratíes)

Derived terms

• Δημοκρατία των Σκοπίων f (Dimokratía ton Skopíon, “Republic of Skopje”)
• Ελληνική Δημοκρατία f (Ellinikí Dimokratía, “Hellenic Republic”)
• Κεντροαφρικανική Δημοκρατία f (Kentroafrikanikí Dimokratía, “Central African Republic”)

Related terms

• see: δήμος m (dímos, “municipality, the people”)

Further reading

• δημοκρατία on the Greek Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^el