decurionn.
/dɪˈkjʊərɪən/ 1.
a. Roman History. A cavalry officer in command of a decuria or company of ten horse. Also gen. A commander or captain of ten men.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > warrior > soldier > leader or commander > [noun] > of 10
decurionc1384
doyen1422
deana1425
dizener1489
decener1555
decan1569
decadarch1794
c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) 1 Macc. iii. 55 Decuriouns, leders of ten.
1533 J. Bellenden tr. Livy Hist. Rome (1822) iv. 361 Sixtus Tempanius, decurion of horsmen.
1581 T. Styward Pathwaie to Martiall Discipline i. 61 He shall charge euerie decurion or Captaine of ten men vpon their othes.
1701 W. Wotton Hist. Rome v. 83 He had got away, if a Decurion had not fallen upon him.
1838 T. Arnold Hist. Rome I. 75 The poorest citizens..followed the army..acting as orderlies to the centurions and decurions.
b. transferred. An overseer of ten households, a tithing-man.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > office > holder of office > parish official > [noun] > tithingman or headborough
tithingmanlOE
frithborh-headc1200
headborough1375
thirdborough?c1475
frank-pledgec1503
borsholder1536
borrow-head1581
decurion1591
decener1607
chief-pledge1630
dean1647
1591 G. Fletcher Of Russe Common Wealth x. f. 33 The Constable hath certeine..Decurions vnder him, which haue the ouersight of ten housholds a peece.
1690 W. Temple Ess. Heroick Virtue iii. 63 in Miscellanea: 2nd Pt. He [sc. Mango Capac] instituted Decurions thro both these Colonies, that is, one over every Ten Families.
2. Roman History. A member of the senate of a colony or municipal town; a town councillor.In later times the capacity for the office became hereditary, and the decurions formed an order charged with heavy financial and other responsibilities to the imperial government.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > rule or government > ruler or governor > deliberative, legislative, or administrative assembly > governing or legislative body of a nation or community > other national governing or legislative bodies > [noun] > in ancient world > in ancient Rome > senator in colony or municipal town
decurionc1384
c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) Mark xv. 43 Joseph of Armath [emended in ed. to Armathie], the noble decurioun [L. decurio, Gk. βουλευτής].
1606 P. Holland tr. Suetonius Hist. Twelve Caesars 60 A new kind of Suffrages which the decurions or elders of Colonies gave every one in their owne Towneshippe.
1635 E. Pagitt Christianographie (1636) iii. 2 Ioseph of Arimathea, that noble Decurion.
1781 E. Gibbon Decline & Fall II. 63 The laborious offices, which could be productive only of envy and reproach, of expence and danger, were imposed on the Decurions, who formed the corporations of the cities, and whom the severity of the Imperial laws had condemned to sustain the burthens of civil society.
1872 E. W. Robertson Hist. Ess. 37 note The Decurio, and filius Decurionis, the Plebeius, and the Servus of the law of Constantine, answer exactly to the Noble, Free, and Servile orders of the Germanic codes.
3. A member of the Great Council in modern Italian cities and towns.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > rule or government > ruler or governor > deliberative, legislative, or administrative assembly > local government body > [noun] > member of local government council > town-councillor > in Italy
decurion1666
1666 London Gaz. No 97/1 The Colledge of the Jurists, the sixty Decurions [at Milan].
1708 London Gaz. No. 4448/1 After these came eight Trumpeters..preceding the 60 Decurions, the great Chancellor, the Privy-Council, and Senate.
1841 W. Spalding Italy & Ital. Islands III. 343 In Genoa, whose municipality was constituted by laws of 1814 and 1815, there is a Great Council of forty decurions (half nobles, half merchants and other citizens), who were named in the first instance by the crown, but have since filled up their own vacancies.
1865 A. Maffei Brigand Life II. 47 At one time a syndic, a decurion, profited by his post to persecute his private enemies.
4. Astrology. = decan n. 2.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the universe > celestial sphere > zone of celestial sphere > [noun] > Zodiac > sign of zodiac > third of > ruler of
decan1588
decurion1652
1652 J. Gaule Πυς-μαντια *87 Their houses..thrones, decurions, faces, joys.
5. Used for decury n., a company of ten.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > number > specific numbers > ten > [noun] > group of ten > persons
decury1533
decurion1555
1555 R. Eden tr. Peter Martyr of Angleria Decades of Newe Worlde i. v. f. 23 A coompanye of armed men diuided into .xxv. decurions, that is, tenne in a company with theyr capitaynes.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1894; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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n.c1384