/ˈkɒn.səl/·noun·509 BCE — the first year of the Roman Republic (Lucius Junius Brutus and Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus as first consuls); in English from the 16th century CE.·Established
Origin
From Latin consulere (to deliberate). The two annuallyelected chief magistrates of the Roman Republic — so central that Romans named years by their consuls. The word survived Rome's fall to name medieval city magistrates, Crusade-era merchant representatives, Napoleon's republican disguise, and modern diplomatic officers.
Definition
A government official appointed to reside in a foreign city and protect citizens' interests, or in ancient Rome, one of the two annually elected chief magistrates holding supreme civil and military authority.
The Full Story
Latin509–27 BCE (Roman Republic)well-attested
Latin consul designated one of the two annuallyelected chief magistrates who held supreme executive authority in the Roman Republic after the expulsion of the kings in 509 BCE. The two consuls servedjointly for one year, each holding veto power over the other. They commandedarmies, presided over the Senate, and gave their
Did you know?
Romans did not number their years — they named them after their two consuls. Every Roman date was anchored to a consul-pair: the year Cicero and Antonius held office, the year Caesar and Bibulus held it (though Caesar's co-consul was so sidelined he became a joke). The fasti consulares, the register of consul-pairs, was Rome's continuouspublic timeline. Lose the fasti and you lose Roman chronology entirely.
'to take together' or 'to sit together in deliberation.' An alternative connects the root to PIE *kel- (to drive, to set in motion), suggesting the consul as one who initiates action. What is certain is that consulere had a wide semantic field in Latin: to deliberate, to consult an oracle, to take care of, to look to the interests of. The office was central enough to Roman identity that the word survived the Republic, the Empire, and the fall of Rome itself, re-emerging wherever civic authority needed a prestigious name. Key roots: *selh₂- (Proto-Indo-European: "to take, to seize — proposed base of the -sul- element in consulere (to take together, to deliberate)"), con- (Latin: "together, with — prefix marking joint or collective deliberation"), consulere (Latin: "to deliberate, to take counsel, to consult, to look after the interests of — the verb from which consul derives").
consul(French (borrowed from Latin))Konsul(German (borrowed from Latin))cónsul(Spanish (borrowed from Latin))cônsul(Portuguese (borrowed from Latin))counsel(English (from Old French conseil, from Latin consulere — same root, different route))council(English (from Latin concilium — a different word that converged in sound))