Meanings
plural nomothetes
- A lawgiver; a legislator.
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.
2018, Quinn Slobodian, quoting H. A. Hayek in translation, in Globalists: The End of Empire and the Birth of Neoliberalism, 206 - A name giver.
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
1997, Umberto Eco, “Some Remarks on Perfect Languages”, in Semiotics around the world: synthesis in diversity
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*nem-
- Proto-Indo-European*németi
- Proto-Hellenic*némō
- Ancient Greekνέμω (némō)
- Ancient Greekνόμος (nómos)
- Proto-Indo-European*dʰeh₁-
- Proto-Indo-European*dʰédʰeh₁ti
- Ancient Greekτίθημι (títhēmi)
- Ancient Greekνομοθέτης (nomothétēs)
- Latinnomotheta
- Englishnomothete
Borrowed from Latin nomotheta, borrowed from Ancient Greek νομοθέτης (nomothétēs, “law-giver”), from νόμος (nómos, “law”) + τίθημι (títhēmi, “lay”) + -της (-tēs).
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
French nomothète
- nomothètelawgiver, legislator
Italian nomoteta
- nomotetalawgiver, legislator
Latin nomotheta, nomothetēs
- nomothetalawgiver, legislator
- nomothetēslawgiver, legislator
Russian номоте́т
- номоте́т (nomotét)lawgiver, legislator
Cite this entry
nomothete. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nomothete
“nomothete.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nomothete. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “nomothete,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nomothete.
Source: nomothete on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.