psephism
English
editEtymology
editAncient Greek ψήφισμα (psḗphisma, “a decree”) from ψηφίζω (psēphízō, “to vote”)
Pronunciation
editNoun
editpsephism (plural psephisms)
- (historical, Ancient Greece) A proposition adopted by a majority of votes, especially by the vote of the Athenian people; a statute.
- Synonym: psephisma
- 1694, John Potter, Archaeologica Graeca:
- No psephism shall pass to the commons before the senate's supervisal. The tablets on which the psephisms are engraved are by no means to be removed.
- 1880, John Pentland Mahaffy, History of Classical Greek Literature:
- The well-known story of the Spartan psephism quoted by Boethius de musica, via. that the Spartans ordered him to cut off four of his eleven strings […] is contradicted by the present text