nomothete

nomothete

English

Etymology

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