Advocacie

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Multiple instances or forms of public support and active promotion of a cause, policy, or group
2. Plural expressions of championing or arguing in favor of particular ideas, interests, or social movements
3. Several campaigns or efforts devoted to backing and advancing a specific position or behalf of others

Etymology: Its Latin ancestor, "advocatus," meant "one called to aid," from "advocare," "to summon to one's side," built from "ad-" ("to") and "vocare" ("to call"). A Roman advocate was someone summoned to support a party in court, so the sense of helper or speaker for another was there from the start. The English form arrived through Anglo-Norman and Old French, which explains its spelling. The "-ie" ending was the usual Anglo-Norman way of rendering a noun ending, and it persisted in Middle English before the modern "-y" spelling took over. Medieval Latin also used "advocatia" for the office or right of an advocate, and that legal sense, a power to act for or protect someone, is the thread that runs through the word's later uses.