What Is The Origin Of The Word Police?

The term police comes from Old French policie, essentially meaning 'civil organization'; it comes from Late Latin poilita; in turn from Latin, meaning 'the State'; coming from Greek politeia, coming from poiltes, meaning 'citizen', from polis, meaning 'city'.

Thus, initially 'police' essentially was the same as 'policy'. As a noun 'police' would essentially denote an administration effectively granted authority to in actuality enforce the law. As a transitive verb, police implies actually enforcing the law and ultimately keeping order among (say a group). Additionally as a transitive verb, 'police' could also mean making (say, a military area) neat in appearance.

The term is associated with meaning the force of policemen as well as officers. Synonyms for the same include constabulary, police force and law. It could have many connotations. For instance, 'police' could refer to those attempting to either regulate or completely censor a specific area or activity (the 'moral police', for instance).

The origin of the word lies in the Greek language and it comes form the word “Politea” which means government or administration. Other than that in French the word “Policer” means to keep in order. In the English history the word “Police” was used for the first time in 1730 in Scotland to refer to the people who enforced the law. The word “Policeman” was used for the first time in 1829.

It is also believed that in 1530 it was actually the same word as Policy and referred to Civil Administration.