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Origin and history of participatory

participatory(adj.)

"sharing, having a share or part in common with others," 1833, from participate + -ory. Participatory democracy is attested by 1965, a term from student protests and mass demonstrations, contrasted with representative democracy. The formulation of the idea, if not the phrase, seems to trace to U.S. progressive political writer Walter Lippmann (1889-1974).

Entries linking to participatory

1530s, "to partake, to share or share in," a back-formation from participation, or else from Latin participatus, past participle of participare "to share, share in, participate in; to impart," from particeps "partaking, sharing," from parti, past participle of partir "to divide" (from Latin partire, from pars "a part, piece," from PIE root *pere- (2) "to grant, allot") + Latin -cip-, weak form of stem of capere "to take" (from PIE root *kap- "to grasp"). Meaning "have features or characteristics in common with another or others" is by 1570s. Related: Participated; participating.

adjective and noun suffix, "having to do with, characterized by, tending to, place for," from Middle English -orie, from Old North French -ory, -orie (Old French -oir, -oire), from Latin -orius, -oria, -orium.

Latin adjectives in -orius, according to "An Etymological Dictionary of the French Language," tended to "indicate a quality proper to the action accomplished by the agent; as oratorius from orator; laudatorius from laudator. The neuter of these adjectives was early employed as a substantive, and usually denoted the place of residence of the agent or the instrument that he uses; as praetorium from praetor; dormitorium from dormitor; auditorium, dolatorium.

"These newer words, already frequent under the Empire, became exceedingly numerous at a later time, especially in ecclesiastical and scholastic Latin; as purgatorium, refectorium, laboratorium, observatorium, &c." [transl. G.W. Kitchin, Oxford, 1878]

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