Senatus

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An assembly or council, particularly in ancient Rome, composed primarily of patricians and serving as an advisory body to magistrates
2. A political institution in ancient Rome that played a significant role in governance, shaping legislative decisions and foreign policy
3. A deliberative body in Roman society, traditionally advising on matters of state, law, and military issues, comprising the elite ruling class

Etymology: Ancient Rome's word for its governing council sounds like a plain abstraction, but it is built from the Latin word for "old man." The Latin "senex" meant "old man," and "senatus" was formed from it with the suffix "-atus," which turned the root into a collective noun for a body of elders. The Roman Senate was, quite literally, an assembly of the old men of the state. The root goes back much further than Latin. It descends from a reconstructed Proto-Indo-European form, "*sénos," meaning "old," and passed through Proto-Italic, the ancestor of Latin and its sister languages, before becoming "senex." The Latin suffix "-tus" in its later form "-atus" was the same device that produced many words for offices, groups and status, so the name of the council was built using a familiar pattern. English borrowed the word directly from Latin, so it carries the Roman original almost unchanged. Its descendants include the word "senator" for a member of such a body, and "senile," which shares the same Latin root for old age.