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Origin and history of constitution

constitution(n.)

mid-14c., constitucioun, "law, regulation, edict; body of rules, customs, or laws," from Old French constitucion (12c.) "constitution, establishment," and directly from Latin constitutionem (nominative constitutio) "act of settling, settled condition, anything arranged or settled upon, regulation, order, ordinance," noun of state from past-participle stem of constituere "to cause to stand, set up, fix, place, establish, set in order; form something new; resolve" (see constitute).

Meaning "action of establishing, creation" is from c. 1400; that of "way in which a thing is constituted" is from c. 1600; that of "physical health, strength and vigor of the body" is from 1550s; of the mind, "temperament, character" from 1580s.

Sense of "mode of organization of a state" is from c. 1600; that of "system of fundamental principles by which a community is governed" dates from 1730s; since the 1780s especially of the fundamental principles and rules of a government as embodied in a written document (as in the U.S. and France). In reference to Britain, the word was a collective name for the fundamental principles established by the political development of the English people embodied in long-accepted precedents. 

constitution

also from mid-14c.

Entries linking to constitution

constitute(v.)

mid-15c., "to enter into the formation of as a necessary part," from Latin constitutus, past participle of constituere "to cause to stand, set up, fix, place, establish, set in order; form something new; resolve," of persons, "to appoint to an office," from assimilated form of com-, here perhaps an intensive prefix (see com-), + statuere "to set" (from PIE root *sta- "to stand, make or be firm"). Meaning "to appoint or elect to an office or position of power" is from c. 1400. Related: Constituted; constituting.

constitutional(adj.)

1680s, "pertaining to a person's (physical or mental) constitution," from constitution + -al (1). Meaning "beneficial to bodily constitution" is from 1750. Meaning "authorized or allowed by the political constitution" is from 1765. Constitutional monarchy is recorded from 1801, from French. Related: Constitutionally.

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    establishment
    late 15c., "settled arrangement," also "income, property," from establish + -ment. Meaning "established church" is from 1731; Sense of "place of business" is from 1832. Meaning "social matrix of ruling people and institutions" is attested occasionally from 1923, consistently from
    formation
    late 14c., "vital force in plants and animals;" early 15c., "act of creating or making," from Old French formacion "formation, fashioning, creation" (12c.) or directly from Latin formationem (nominative formatio) "a forming, shaping," noun of action or condition from past-partici
    organization
    early 15c., organisacioun, "structure of the body or its parts;" mid-15c., "act or process of organizing, the arranging of parts in an organic whole" from Medieval Latin organizationem (nominative organizatio), noun of action from past-participle stem of organizare, from Latin or
    complexion
    temperament, character, make-up," from Latin complexionem (nominative complexio) "combination" (in Late Latin, "physical constitution...The Middle English sense is from the old medicine notion of bodily constitution or general nature resulting from blending...
    mettle
    others) in the literal sense and in the figurative one of "stuff of which a person is made, (a person's) physical or moral constitution...
    vice-president
    Constitution (1787). There seems to be no doubt of my election as V[ice] Pres[iden]t....
    disposition
    Meaning "frame of mind, attitude, inclination; temperament, natural tendency or constitution of the mind" (late 14c.) are...
    grain
    early 14c., "a small, hard seed," especially of one of the cereal plants, also as a collective singular, "seed of wheat and allied grasses used as food;" also "something resembling grain; a hard particle of other substances" (salt, sand, later gunpowder, etc.), from Old French gr
    make-up
    also makeup, "manner in which something is put together," 1821, from the verbal phrase (see make (v.) + up (adv.)). To make up as "build, collect into one form by bringing together" is from late 14c., also "prepare." It is attested from late 15c. as "supply as an equivalent," fro
    structure
    mid-15c.; the sense might be "building materials" or "action or process of building or construction," either way it is obsolete. From 1610s as "that which is built, an edifice," especially if large or imposing. It is from Latin structura "a fitting together, adjustment; a buildin

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