nomothete

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English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Ancient Greek νομοθέτης (nomothétēs, law-giver).

Noun[edit]

nomothete (plural nomothetes)

  1. A lawgiver; a legislator.
    • 2018, Quinn Slobodian, quoting H. A. Hayek in translation, in Globalists: The End of Empire and the Birth of Neoliberalism, 206:
      He proposed a bicameral legislature divided into elected legislators tasked with everyday business of state, who he called “telothetes,” and another set of legislators called “nomothetes” of ages forty to fifty-five elected by their peers to fifteen-year terms.
  2. A name giver.
    • 1997, Umberto Eco, “Some Remarks on Perfect Languages”, in Semiotics around the world: synthesis in diversity:
      Clearly we are in the presence of a motif, common to other religions and mythologies — that of the Nomothete, the name-giver, the creator of language