Латинское происхождение слова "республика": Res publica и его значение.

Latin root of the word "republic"
the Latin phrase

Res publica (also spelled rēs pūblica to indicate vowel length) is a Latin phrase, loosely meaning 'public affair'. It is the root of the word 'republic', and the word 'commonwealth' has traditionally been used as a synonym for it; however, translations vary widely according to the context. Res is a nominative singular Latin noun for a substantive or concrete thing—as opposed to spes, which means something unreal or ethereal—and publica is an attributive adjective meaning 'of or pertaining to the public, people'. Hence a literal translation is, 'the public thing, affair' or 'the people's thing, affair'. The Latin term res publica was incompatible with the idea of absolute power by any individual or group over the body of citizens. The most essential characteristic of a res publica was liberty (libertas), which meant freedom from the arbitrary control of another and the absence of a monarchical domination over the body politic, that was analogous to the absolute power of a master over a slave.

Res publica usually is something held in common by many people. For instance a park or garden in the city of Rome could either be 'private property' (res privata), or managed by the state, in which case it would be part of the res publica.

Taking everything together that is of public interest leads to the connotation that the res publica in general equals 'the state'. For Romans, the state equaled the Roman Empire and all its interests, so Res Publica may also refer to the Roman Empire as a whole, regardless of whether it was governed as a republic or under imperial reign. In this context, scholars suggest commonwealth as a more accurate and neutral translation of the Latin term, as it implies neither republican governance nor imperial rule, but rather refers to the state as a whole. However, translating res publica as 'republic' when it clearly refers to the Roman Empire under Imperial reign sometimes occurs (see quotes below).

Roman authors would use the phrase res publica in the context of the era when Rome was governed as a republic: the era between the Roman Kingdom and Roman Empire. So in this case, res publica does distinctly not refer to the Roman Empire, but to what is generally described as the Roman Republic.

Res publica could also be used in a generic meaning, referring to "public affairs" and/or the general system of government of a state. In this usage res publica translated the Greek concept politeia (which originally meant the state organisation of a city state). Also, for a Roman politician engaging himself in the res publica, a translation can often be the even more generic "being occupied in politics".

Even when limited to its "political" connotations, the meanings of the term res publica in ancient Rome are diverse and multi layered, and differing from the Greek politeia in many ways (that is: from the several interwoven meanings the word politeia had). However, it is also the customary Latin translation of politeia; the modern name of Plato's The Republic comes from this usage. In some contexts the "state organisation system" meaning of res publica derives into something like "constitution", although "constitution", properly speaking, is a much more modern concept. Ancient Romans would use the expression "Twelve Tables" instead of res publica, when referring to their constitution at the time of the "republic", and the "inalterable laws installed by the divine Augustus", for their equivalent of a constitution in the era of the early Empire. After the Roman Empire collapsed in the West, the idea of res publica disappeared, as foreign to the barbarians of the Migrations Period: whenever Gregory of Tours refers to res publica, it is the Eastern Empire of which he is speaking.

The translations of the quotations below are copied without alteration from existing non copyrighted material. Other translations might differ, but they all serve to illustrate the many aspects of the res publica concept in ancient Rome. The Latin original texts are given concurrently with the translations, in order to show that only the context of the text allows to interpret the res publica concept in each instance. From these examples it also follows that probably there was also a gradual shift of meaning of the res publica concept throughout the Roman era: the "(Roman) Republic" connotation of res publica is something that rather occurs with retrospect to a closed period (so less appararent in Cicero's time, who never knew the era of the Emperors, and could only compare with the epoch of the Kings); on the other hand the translation of the Greek "politeia" concept appears to have nearly completely worn off in late antiquity.