Rzeczpospolita (pronounced: [ʒεʧpɔsˈpɔλita] (help· info)) is a Polish word for "republic" or "commonwealth", a calque translation of the Latin expression res publica ("public affair"). Not to be confused with the NATO phonetic alphabet, which has also informally been called the “International Phonetic Alphabet”. For information on how to read IPA transcriptions of English words, see IPA chart for English. ... Image File history File links Rzeczpospolita. ... Forms of government Part of the Politics series Politics Portal This box:      For other uses, see Republic (disambiguation). ... The English noun Commonwealth dates originally from the fifteenth century. ... // In linguistics, a calque (pronounced ) or loan translation is a word or phrase borrowed from another language by literal, word-for-word (Latin: verbum pro verbo) or root-for-root translation. ... Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in Latium, the region immediately surrounding Rome. ... Res publica is a Latin phrase, made of res + publica, literally meaning public thing or public matter. It is the origin of the word Republic. // The word publica is the feminine singular of the 1st- and 2nd-declension adjective publicus, publica, publicum, which is itself derived from an earlier form...

The word rzeczpospolita has been used in Poland since at least 16th century, originally a generic term to denote any democratic state. The famous quote by Crown Chancellor Jan Zamoyski about the importance of education is an example of this usage: (15th century - 16th century - 17th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 16th century was that century which lasted from 1501 to 1600. ... Democracy (literally rule by the people, from the Greek demos, people, and kratos, rule[1]) is a form of government. ... Noble Family Zamoyski Coat of Arms Jelita Parents Stanisław Zamoyski Anna Herburt Consorts Anna Ossolińska Krystyna Radziwiłł Gryzelda Batory Barbara Tarnowska Children with Barbara Tarnowska Tomasz Zamoyski Date of Birth March 19, 1542 Place of Birth Skokówka, Poland Date of Death June 3...

Takie będą rzeczypospolite, jakie ich młodzieży chowanie.
Republics will be such as the upbringing of their youth.

—Jan Zamoyski, Foundation Act of the Academy of Zamość; 1600 Noble Family Zamoyski Coat of Arms Jelita Parents Stanisław Zamoyski Anna Herburt Consorts Anna Ossolińska Krystyna Radziwiłł Gryzelda Batory Barbara Tarnowska Children with Barbara Tarnowska Tomasz Zamoyski Date of Birth March 19, 1542 Place of Birth Skokówka, Poland Date of Death June 3... Akademia Zamojska was a university founded in 1595 by Jan Zamojski in Zamość. After the death of its founder it slowly lost its importance, and in 1784 it was degraded into a liceum. ...

Today, however, the word is used solely in reference to the Polish State (seldom also to the ancient Roman Republic). Any other republic is referred to as republika in modern Polish. Motto: none1 Anthem: Mazurek DÄ…browskiego(Polish) DÄ…browskis Mazurka Poland() – on the European continent() – in the European Union() [] Capital (and largest city)  Warsaw Official languages Polish2 Government Parliamentary republic  - President Lech KaczyÅ„ski  - Prime minister JarosÅ‚aw KaczyÅ„ski Formation  - Christianisation4 966   - Redeclared November 11, 1918  Accession to... See also Roman Republic (18th century) and Roman Republic (19th century). ...

The official name of the present-day Polish State is Rzeczpospolita Polska, which is usually translated into English as "Republic of Poland". However, such translation, when talking about the 16–18th century Poland, may be confusing since in those times the Rzeczpospolita was a monarchy. For that period, Rzeczpospolita is rendered rather as "Commonwealth" (which is another English version of the Latin res publica), as in "Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth". Forms of government Part of the Politics series Politics Portal This box:      A monarchy, from the Greek μονος, one, and αρχειν, to rule, is a form of government that has a monarch as head of state. ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ...

The word Rzeczpospolita is also used as a name for three periods in Poland’s history: In the period following its emergence in the 10th century, the Polish nation was led by a series of strong rulers who converted the Poles to Christianity, created a strong Central European state and integrated Poland into European culture. ...

• First Rzeczpospolita – the period when Poland was ruled by the nobility (szlachta) who elected the king and the parliament (Sejm); from the Nihil novi act in 1505 until the third and final partition of Poland-Lithuania in 1795;
• Second Rzeczpospolita – name usually applied to the entire interwar period, from Poland's independence in 1918 until the Invasion of Poland and German-Soviet occupation in 1939, although the renascent Polish State was officially called Republika Polska until the name Rzeczpospolita Polska was introduced by the constitution of 1921 whose first article read: Państwo Polskie jest Rzecząpospolitą ("The Polish State is a Rzeczpospolita");
• Third Rzeczpospolita – following the fall of the communist regime in 1989.

Leaders of the currently ruling Law and Justice party have coined the term Fourth Rzeczpospolita – a new Poland they vowed to create as a replacement for the current, allegedly too corrupt, Third Rzeczpospolita. Main article: Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth The Nihil novi act adopted by the Polish Diet in 1505 transferred all legislative power from the king to the Diet. ... Polish szlachcic. ... The Sejm building in Warsaw. ... A fragment of this article needs translation from Polish into English. ... 1505 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Partitions of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (Polish: Rozbiór Polski or Rozbiory Polski; Lithuanian: Lietuvos-Lenkijos padalijimai, Belarusian: Падзелы Рэчы Паспалітай) took place in the 18th century and ended the existence of the sovereign Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. ... 1795 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... Anthem: Mazurek DÄ…browskiego Capital Warsaw Language(s) Polish Government Republic President List Prime minister List Legislature Sejm Historical era Interwar period  - World War I November 11, 1918  - Invasion November 2, 1939 Area  - 1939 388,600 km2 150,039 sq mi Population  - 1939 est. ... The Interwar period was the time between World War I and World War II, ergo the 1920s and 1930s. ... Year 1918 (MCMXVIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar (see link for calendar) or a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. ... Combatants Poland Germany, Soviet Union, Slovakia Commanders Edward Rydz-ÅšmigÅ‚y Fedor von Bock (Army Group North), Gerd von Rundstedt (Army Group South), Mikhail Kovalov (Belorussian Front), Semyon Timoshenko (Ukrainian Front), Ferdinand ÄŒatloÅ¡ (Field Army Bernolak) Strength 39 divisions, 16 brigades, 4,300 guns, 880 tanks, 400 aircraft Total: 950... 1939 (MCMXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full year calendar). ... In the 1970s and 1980s the whole system in Poland was deeper and deeper in the crisis and was beginning to crumble as was the whole Eastern bloc with the USSR as the fading superpower. ... 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Then-Prime Minister Marcinkiewicz, Lech KaczyÅ„ski, and Maria KaczyÅ„ska during KaczyÅ„skis swearing in as President of Poland, December 23, 2005. ... The Fourth Polish Republic is the term given by members of Polands right-wing government to the new Polish order they vow to create. ...

Other expressions and names that employ the term rzeczpospolita include:

• Rzeczpospolita szlachecka – Nobles' Commonwealth / Republic, another name for the First Rzeczpospolita;
• Rzeczpospolita Obojga Narodów – Commonwealth of the Two Nations or Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (1569–1795);
• Rzeczpospolita Babińska – a 16th-century parody of the state, established in the village of Babin, where nobles were given "offices" according to their faults instead of merits;
• Rzeczpospolita Krakowska – Republic of Kraków or Free City of Kraków (1815–1846);
• Polska Rzeczpospolita Ludowa or PRL – People's Republic of Poland, name colloquially applied to the whole period of communist rule in Poland, i.e. 1944–1989, although officially used only between 1952 and 1989.

Rzeczpospolita is sometimes abbreviated to Rzplita. RP is a common abbreviation for Rzeczpospolita Polska (Republic of Poland). Main article: Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth The Nihil novi act adopted by the Polish Diet in 1505 transferred all legislative power from the king to the Diet. ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Events January 11 - First recorded lottery in England. ... 1795 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... The Free City of Kraków (Polish: Wolne Miasto Kraków), also known as Republic of Kraków (Rzeczpospolita Krakowska), was a city-state created by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 and controlled by its three neighbors, Russia, Prussia and Austria until 1846. ... April 5-12: Mount Tambora explodes, changing climate. ... 1846 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... The Peoples Republic of Poland or Polish Peoples Republic (Polish: Polska Rzeczpospolita Ludowa, PRL) was the official name of Poland from 1952 to 1989, during its period of rule by the Communist party, officially called the Polish United Workers Party (Polska Zjednoczona Partia Robotnicza, or PZPR). ... 1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday. ... 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1952 (MCMLII) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ...

The peoples that were once once under Polish domination within the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth have borrowed the word Rzeczpospolita from the Polish language. Lithuanian Žečpospolita, Belarusian Рэч Паспалітая (Rech Paspalitaya) and Ukrainian Річ Посполита (Rich Pospolyta) are used only to refer to the pre-partition Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Partitions of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (Polish: Rozbiór Polski or Rozbiory Polski; Lithuanian: Lietuvos-Lenkijos padalijimai, Belarusian: Падзелы Рэчы Паспалітай) took place in the 18th century and ended the existence of the sovereign Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. ...

See also

Look up Rzeczpospolita in
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• Name of Poland
• Golden Liberty
• History of Poland
• Rzeczpospolita – a daily newspaper