nomothete

nomothete

English

Etymology

    Borrowed from Ancient Greek νομοθέτης (nomothétēs, law-giver).

    Noun

    nomothete (plural nomothetes)

    1. A lawgiver; a legislator.
      • 2018, Quinn Slobodian, quoting H. A. Hayek in translation, in Globalists: The End of Empire and the Birth of Neoliberalism, 206:
        He proposed a bicameral legislature divided into elected legislators tasked with everyday business of state, who he called “telothetes,” and another set of legislators called “nomothetes” of ages forty to fifty-five elected by their peers to fifteen-year terms.
    2. A name giver.
      • 1997, Umberto Eco, “Some Remarks on Perfect Languages”, in Semiotics around the world: synthesis in diversity:
        Clearly we are in the presence of a motif, common to other religions and mythologies — that of the Nomothete, the name-giver, the creator of language