Provynce

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A large district governed as a unit of a country or empire ; a field of duty, responsibility or specialist knowledge that someone has charge of
2. An archaic spelling of a region administered as one part of a state ; a domain of responsibility or expertise belonging to a person or group
3. A territorial division ruled as part of a nation or realm ; the sphere of activity, authority or learning that falls within one's concern

Etymology: The word "province" comes from Latin "provincia," a term whose original sense was quite plain: a sphere of duty. In Rome, a magistrate's "provincia" was the task assigned to him, whether governing a territory or handling a particular matter. Only later did the word settle on the geographical sense of a territory placed under such an official's command. The Latin root is "pro" ("before, for") combined with a element linked to "vincere," though the precise internal history of that second part is debated, so it is safest to say the word was built from "pro-" plus a root meaning to conquer or to bind. English took the word from Old French "provincie" in the 13th century, and it arrived carrying both senses at once. That double life explains the modern meaning you have listed: a region governed as a unit of a country or empire, and also any field someone has charge of. A person's "province" in the second sense is the area that falls within their task, the same idea Rome first attached to a magistrate's assignment.