commonalty
(ˈkɒmənəltɪ)
Forms: 3–4 comunaute, 4–6 co(m)munalte, 5 comonaltie, 6– commonalty (with from 20 to 30 variants following all the forms of co(m)mon, comen, comyn, etc., and of the suffix, -aute, -alte, -altie, etc.)
[a. OF. comunalté, comunauté (= Pr. cominaltat, It. comunaltà), f. OF. and Pr. comunal, It. communale, L. commūnāl-is belonging to the community, f. commūne the community or state = common n.1 1. The L. type is commūnālitās (found in med.L.); hence the variant commonality.]
† 1. The people of a nation, state, city, etc., collectively; a community, commonwealth. Obs.
| c 1290 Lives Saints (1887) 143 Ech þing þat fallez to harme In þe communaute. c 1300 Beket 1302 To desturbi thing that falleth to harm of communeaute. 1388 Wyclif Prov. xxix. 2 The comynalte schal be glad in the multipliyng of iust men. c 1425 Wyntoun Cron. viii. xxxvii. 103 For to sawfe his comwnate Than wyth þe wardane tretyde he. c 1460 Fortescue Abs. & Lim. Mon. vii. (1885) 124 Ambassatours..ffrom grete communalties bi yonde þe see. c 1535 Starkey Let. to Pole in Strype Eccl. Mem. I. xxxiii. 238 Persons which..have rooted a sedition in this communalty. 1547 Homilies i. Swearing (1859) 75 Good order..kept..in all commonalties, as boroughs, cities, towns, and villages. 1631 Weever Anc. Fun. Mon. 347 The Communaltie of Kent was neuer vanquished by the Conquerour. |
† b. A self-governing commonwealth, a republic, a democracy.
Obs.| 1604 E. G[rimstone] tr. D'Acosta's Hist. Indies vi. x. 453 Many nations of the Indies have not indured any Kings..but live in comminalties, creating and appointing Captains and Princes, for certaine occasions onely. 1660 Milton Free Commw. Wks. 1738 I. 599 Which..may be best and soonest obtain'd, if every County..were made a kind of subordinate Commonalty or Commonwealth. |
2. A body corporate; a corporation.
| 1425 Ord. Whittington's Alms-house (1776) in Entick London IV. 354 The commonalty of the craft of mercers. 1520 Sir R. Elyot Will in Elyot's Gov. (1883) I. App. 315 The Maire and cominaltie of the Citie of New Sarum. 1523 Act 14 & 15 Hen. VIII, c. 5 One body and perpetuall comminaltie or felowship of the facultie of Physicke. 1594 West Symbol. ii. §20 A Maior without his comminaltie. 1828 W. Smith Univ. College 369 The University to forfeit 20l. yearly to the Mayor and Commonalty of London. 1847 C. G. Addison Contracts i. i. §2 (1883) 88 If a bond be given by the commonalty in the absence of the mayor, the body corporate is not bound. 1885 Act 48 & 49 Vict. c. 76 §12 Licensed by the master, wardens, and commonalty of watermen and lightermen of the River Thames. |
3. The general body of the community; the common people, as distinguished from those in authority, from those of rank and title, or ‘the upper classes’ generally; the ‘commons’ collectively.
| a 1340 Hampole Psalter liv. 10 In þe comunaute of folke. c 1440 Generydes 254 Of hir lordes and of hir comenaute. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 431/4 Accompanyed wyth the nobles and moche comynaltee of his royame. 1531 Elyot Gov. i. i, Plebs in englishe, is called the comunaltee, whiche signifieth onelye the multitude, wherin be conteined the base and vulgare inhabitantes, not auanced to any honour or dignitee. 1581 Mulcaster Positions xxxix. (1887) 197 Either gentlemen or of the commonalty. 1756–7 tr. Keysler's Trav. (1760) I. 179 The commonalty of both sexes wear straw hats. 1841 Lytton Nt. & Morn. i. ii, One of those families which yearly vanish from the commonalty into the peerage. 1874 Miss Mulock My Mother & I 89 As well-to-do commonalty likes to patronise poor gentility. |
| transf. 1667 Milton P.L. vii. 489 The Parsimonious Emmet..join'd in her popular Tribes Of Commonaltie. |
† 4. The Commons as an estate of the realm acting by their elected representatives; hence, the representative members of the Commons.
Obs.| 1580 Sidney Arcadia (1622) 110 Enacted, not onely by the cominaltie of Passions, but agreed vnto by her most noble Thoughts. 1581 Lambarde Eiren. iv. xiii. (1588) 540 Both Gentlemen and Knights do serve in the Parliament, as members of the Communaltie. 1630 R. Johnson Kingd. & Commw. 174 The three Estates, of the Clergie, the Nobilitie, and Comminaltie. 1648 D. Jenkins Wks. 15 The ayds granted by the Commonalty. |
5. transf. The general or universal body.
| 1594 Hooker Eccl. Pol. iii. (T.), I..will use the secret acknowledgement of the commonalty bearing record of the God of gods. 1659 T. White Mid. State Souls 37 Not..by a few wise or extraordinarily religious persons, but by the commonalty and universality of Christians. 1710 Steele Tatler No. 197 ¶2 Writings which the Commonalty of Scholars have pushed into the World. 1830 Galt Lawrie T. i. i. (1849) 3 The commonalty of mankind. |
† 6. in commonalty: in public.
out of commonalty: in private, in secret.
Obs.| 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne p. 186 l. 5964 Hyt ys coueytyse and þeft pryue To bye þyng out of cominalte [v.r. comnalte]. c 1380 Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. I. 110 He wolde in comunalte do þis dede, and not þus oonli in desert. |