decemvirn.
/dɪˈsɛmvə/ a. Roman History (plural). A body of ten men acting as a commission, council, college, or ruling authority; esp. the two bodies of magistrates appointed in 451 and 450 b.c. to draw up a code of laws (the laws of the Twelve Tables) who were, during the time, entrusted with the supreme government of Rome.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > office > holder of office > Roman magistrates and officials > [noun] > decemvir
decemvir1600
society > authority > rule or government > ruler or governor > joint ruler > [noun] > one of specific number of > set of specific number of
triumvirate1584
triumvirship1597
triumviry1598
decemvir1600
pentarchy1607
triumvir1619
decarchya1638
decemvirate1651
tetrarchy1716
decadarchy1849
triarchy1859
triarchate1881
society > authority > rule or government > ruler or governor > joint ruler > [noun] > one of specific number of > set of specific number of > in Roman antiquity
decemvir1600
1579 T. North tr. Plutarch Liues 918 Cicero..did one day sharply reproue and inuey against this law of the Decemuiri.]
1600 P. Holland tr. Livy Rom. Hist. iii. xxxii. 109 Agreed it was that there should be created Decemvirs above all appeale.
1781 E. Gibbon Decline & Fall xliv The Decemvirs, who sullied by their actions the honour of inscribing, on brass, or wood, or ivory, the Twelve Tables of the Roman Laws.
1838 T. Arnold Hist. Rome I. 253 A commission invested with such extraordinary powers as those committed to the decemvirs.
1868 W. Smith Smaller Dict. Greek & Rom. Antiq. (ed. 7) 127/2 Decemviri Litibus Judicandis..Augustus transferred to these decemvirs the presidency in the courts of the centumviri.
b. transferred. A council or ruling body of ten, as the Council of Ten of the Venetian Republic.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > rule or government > ruler or governor > deliberative, legislative, or administrative assembly > council of state > [noun] > in Venetian republic
decemvir1615
the Ten1636
giunta1673
1615 R. Cocks Diary 2 Aug. I had much adowe with Zanzabars desemvery.
1821 Ld. Byron Two Foscari i. i, in Sardanapalus 190 I look Forward to be one day of the decemvirs.
1832 J.-C.-L. S. de Sismondi Hist. Ital. Republics ix. 202 The decemvirs dared unblushingly propose to their colleagues, etc.
c. singular. A member of such a body.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > rule or government > ruler or governor > joint ruler > [noun] > one of specific number of
quartermaster1541
duumvir1600
quarter-ruler1610
tetrarcha1661
decemvir1703
quadrumvir1790
pentarch1798
duarch1848
decarch1852
dodecarch1882
1703 N. Rowe Fair Penitent iv. i He slew his only daughter To save her from the fierce Decemvir's lust.
1744 tr. Livy I. 272 C. Julius, a decemvir, appointed him a day for taking his trial.
1852 G. Grote Hist. Greece IX. ii. lxxii. 260 Like the Decemvir Appius Claudius at Rome.
Derivatives
deˈcemvirship n. the office of decemvir.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > office > holder of office > Roman magistrates and officials > [noun] > decemvir > office or association of
decemvirship1600
decemvirate1620
1600 P. Holland tr. Livy Rom. Hist. iii. 115 The Decemvirship, and the conditions of his colleagues together, had so greatly changed.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1894; most recently modified version published online September 2019).
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