Other terms for "Republic"

It seems most of our terms for Republic are either derivatives or loan translations of the Latin res publica a public affair.
Even the original greek politeia was replaced by demokrateia.

So what other terms that mean roughly "state ruled by the people's (representatives)" could we have?
 

Thande

Donor
Hmm...how about Old English "Folcrice" (which in modern English would be something like Folkrick for folk-realm), equivalent to German Volksreich?
 
Well, Commowhealth has been already used so...
Counciliate or even Consulate, from Consulat ->Sort of enlarged municipal power
Capitolat -> The same, but using the western occitan term for "consul".
Assembly -> Using the representative term to designate the popular power over the state?
Gana Sangha -> Using an old indian designation, with possibles derivaties or adaptations in other languages
Commune -> Again using a municipal "republican power" designation for a republic
 
Dominion and Dominate don't actually specify where power comes from - they could be democratic polities. I wonder if you couldn't do something with "Nominate", as the leaders are nominated. Union implies several things coming together, so it could be loosely interpreted as democracy. Collective is derived from "law together", you could mutilate that somehow :)
 
You could probably get 'civis' or 'polis'as a synonym for Republic.

or even 'people' could come to just mean a synonym for republic.

'The Mauve Revolution overthrew the dictatorship and restored the people.' 'The government of X is only semi-people.'
 
'The government of X is only semi-people.'

With all due respect, and I am completely convinced you had nothing bad in mind, but that statement would end up sounding... kind of politically incorrect. Like, imagine if you didn't think that Israel was a proper democracy. Would you then say "the government of Israel is only semi-people"? Or skipping the government part completely "Israel is only semi-people"?

Not really the sort of thing you would wanna say in a public forum, since people might misunderstand you...
 
With all due respect, and I am completely convinced you had nothing bad in mind, but that statement would end up sounding... kind of politically incorrect. Like, imagine if you didn't think that Israel was a proper democracy. Would you then say "the government of Israel is only semi-people"? Or skipping the government part completely "Israel is only semi-people"?

Not really the sort of thing you would wanna say in a public forum, since people might misunderstand you...

In a TL where 'people' is widely understood to mean something like 'democracy' or 'republic,' the confusion wouldn't arise. You'd some other term like 'folk' or 'population' or 'humankind' or 'nation' to refer to the humans of an area.
 
In a TL where 'people' is widely understood to mean something like 'democracy' or 'republic,' the confusion wouldn't arise. You'd some other term like 'folk' or 'population' or 'humankind' or 'nation' to refer to the humans of an area.

True. In that case you could perhaps get away with it. :)
 
Related to one of the suggestions above, I once considered the idea of the word "folksthing", with the two meanings of "thing" (an assembly and an object) merging somewhat into the same, general idea as a "res publica" in Latin.
 
There's the Arabic word "jumhuriyya" and its derivatives in other languages.

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/جمهورية
Technically that's also a near translation of Republic roughly meaning "gathering of people"

Archonate comes to mind

and here's Wiki on Archon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archon

Best Regards
Grey Wolf

Ooh, now that's a good one!
Though I wonder if it may come to mean "presidency" ;)
Well, Commowhealth has been already used so...
Counciliate or even Consulate, from Consulat ->Sort of enlarged municipal power
Capitolat -> The same, but using the western occitan term for "consul".
Assembly -> Using the representative term to designate the popular power over the state?
Gana Sangha -> Using an old indian designation, with possibles derivaties or adaptations in other languages
Commune -> Again using a municipal "republican power" designation for a republic
Good suggestions.
In a TL where 'people' is widely understood to mean something like 'democracy' or 'republic,' the confusion wouldn't arise. You'd some other term like 'folk' or 'population' or 'humankind' or 'nation' to refer to the humans of an area.
Wouldn't it be more "Populate" or "Popularia" than "People" if "Folk" is in use in vernacular English?
 
Republic comes from the Latin words res publica meaning public affair.
After World War 1 the word Freistaat (= Free State) was used in many states instead of republic and even today Bavaria, Saxony and Thuringia are Free States. Volksstaat (= People's State) was also used.
 
Folkthing? That would be the closest Anglo-Saxon translation of "Republic."

Wikipedia says Folkmoot is the historical Anglo-Saxon body, before the Witangemot took over.
 
I don't know Greek well enough to find the word, but "government of equals" maybe.

Or "the common(er)s" So instead of the cracy of the best, you have the cracy of the ordinary men.
 
I'd go for something involving the word 'free', in the meaning of the people ruling themselves, while not being subjective to a nearby Duke, count or other nobleman. Compare the period of Frisian freedom.

Perhaps someone with more comprehensive knowledge can do something interesting with the Greek word Elefthería? To form a word that means 'free country'?
 
How about just Nation? Its not brashly anti-monarchist, has connatations of a unity of purpose, and could fit most any kind of government. Plus, it has historical usuage to mean both people and state: the Nation of Israel.
 
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