α. 1600s– imperium.
β. 1600s (1900s– nonstandard) emperium.
imperiumn.
/ɪmˈpɪərɪəm/, U.S. /ᵻmˈpɪriəm/ 1. Absolute or supreme power or dominion. Frequently (International Law): the authority of a state to govern itself or its subject territories; sovereignty (often contrasted with dominium, or the authority of a sovereign state to acquire land or property). Also in extended use: complete control or influence; supreme command. Cf. empire n. 5.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > [noun] > imperial authority
imperya1400
imperialityc1450
imperialty1602
imperium1613
1613 R. Dallington Briefe Inference Guicciardines Digression 16 in Aphorismes Ciuill & Militarie Because Rome had now the Imperium and Emporium of the world, here was the seate of the Imperiall Maiestie.
1678 R. Cudworth True Intellect. Syst. Universe i. iii. 161 We have no voluntary Imperium at all, upon the Systole and Diastole of the Heart.
1739 London Mag. Oct. App. 553/2 We have an imperium or dominion over the British seas, established to us by custom immemorial, and acknowledged by almost all the nations of Europe.
1745 J. Parsons in Philos. Trans. 1744–5 (Royal Soc.) 43 10 If the Soul had an Imperium over the Blood, she might as well prevent the Effects of Poison.
1865 T. Lewis State Rights 15 Athens was charged with ambition; she was said to be aiming at imperium and consolidation.
1918 C. H. McIlwain Polit. Wks. James I Introd. p. lxxxv He sets out to prove among other things that the Roman pontiff has no imperium over other churches.
1951 Stanford Law Rev. 3 211 The imperium of the United States not only covers the whole nation, but intimately concerns all navigable waters.
2011 Polit. Theory 39 126 Humanist arguments for the settlers' civic virtue in pursuit of their civilizing mission sat quite comfortably with natural-law arguments..for their rights of imperium over indigenous people and dominium over their lands.
2. Roman History. The power to give orders and to exact obedience to them, conferred upon certain officials.The original holders of imperium were the Roman kings, who commanded in battle and held judicial and religious power. In the Republic imperium was held by dictators and their deputies, by magistrates (consuls and praetors), and by proconsuls and propraetors, among others. In the Principate (principate n. 4) consuls and praetors continued to hold imperium, but the emperor's authority was greater.
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1647 J. Noyes Temple Measured 34 In Israel there was Soveraignty in the Magistrates or Princes. Amongst the Romans, Imperium was in magistratu, Majestas in populo.
1739 tr. C. Rollin Rom. Hist. I. i. vi. 157 The custom of calling the Comitia Curiata was still retained for form-sake, when the military power called Imperium was to be conferred on those that by the suffrages of the Centuries had been raised to the magistracy.
1742 R. Biscoe Hist. Acts Holy Apostles I. vi. 139 The Municipal Magistrates, who had not that Imperium, which is usually joined with Jurisdiction,..and so could not compel Persons, by Punishments, to comply with their Decrees.
1842 W. Smith Dict. Greek & Rom. Antiq. 508/1 Though consuls were elected at the Comitia Centuriata, the Comitia Curiata only could give them Imperium... This was in conformity with the ancient constitution, according to which the Imperium was conferred on the kings after they had been elected.
1843 T. Arnold & J. C. Hare Hist. Rome III. xlvii. 431 The rods and axes..were the symbol of the consul's imperium, his absolute power of life and death.
1924 E. E. Bryant Short Hist. Rome xxiv. 230 Caesar recognized that his power was an Imperium based on the army.
2014 R. Ugilt G. Agamben iii. 67 Where the dictatorship was meant to concentrate all power of the republic in the hands of one man, iustitium..called for all magistrates to enact their imperium, without constraint from the law.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2019; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1613