Politics & SocietyGreek → English
Diplomat
/ˈdɪpləmæt/noun
An official who represents a state in its dealings with other states.
The Greek roots
δίπλωμα
díplōma
folded paper
διπλοῦς
diploûs
double, twofold
Literally: “one who carries the folded paper”
The story of the word
A δίπλωμα was a document folded in two, and in the Roman empire it meant a letter of passage or a licence, a travel pass folded and sealed. Eighteenth-century scholars who studied such state papers called their field diplomatique, and the word slid from the documents to the men who carried them. Diploma kept the paper; diplomat took the job. A university diploma is the same folded sheet.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → French → English
- First recorded
- 1810s
Same family
diplomadiplomacydiploid
In a sentence
The diplomat spent the whole reception avoiding one question in three languages.