'Consent' is Latin for 'feeling together' — agreement conceived as arriving at a shared sensation.
Permission for something to happen or agreement to do something; (verb) to give permission or agree to something.
From Old French 'consentir' (to agree, to comply), from Latin 'cōnsentīre' (to feel together, to agree, to be of one mind, to be in accord), a compound of 'con-' (together, with, jointly, from PIE *kom, near, beside) + 'sentīre' (to feel, perceive, think, sense), from PIE *sent- (to go, to feel, to head for). The PIE root *sent- also produced 'sense,' 'sentence,' 'sentiment,' 'sentient,' 'scent,' and 'assent.' The core image of 'cōnsentīre' is strikingly democratic: consent is not merely agreement in words but convergence in
The phrase 'the consent of the governed' — foundational to democratic theory — appears in the U.S. Declaration of Independence (1776), echoing John Locke's 'Second Treatise of Government' (1689). The word's etymology makes it particularly apt: consent is not mere submission but a 'feeling together,' a shared perception that authority is legitimate. Consensus (from the same
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