syndic

Rembrandt, De Staalmeesters (The Sampling Officials) or De waardijns van het Amsterdamse lakenbereidersgilde (Syndics of the Drapers’ Guild, 1662),[n 1] which depicts officials of the Drapers’ Guild of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, elected to assess the quality of cloth offered by weavers for sale to guild members.

Borrowed from French syndic (“delegated representative; a chief magistrate of Geneva; a censor; critic (obsolete)”), from Late Latin syndicus (“representative of a corporation or town, syndic”), from Ancient Greek σύνδικος (súndikos, “advocate of a defendant”), from σῠν- (sun-, prefix meaning ‘together, with’) + δῐ́κη (díkē, “law, order; right; judgment; justice; lawsuit; trial”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *deyḱ- (“to point out”)) + -ος (-os, suffix forming nouns).[1]

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ˈsɪndɪk/

• Audio (RP)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪndɪk
• Hyphenation: syn‧dic

syndic (plural syndics)

1. (government) A government official having different duties depending on the country; also, a magistrate, especially one of the Chief Magistrates of Geneva, Switzerland.
   • 1610 October​, John Foxe, “A Notable History of the Persecution and Destruction of the People of Merindol and Cabriers in the Country of Prouince: […]”, in The Second Volume of the Ecclesiasticall Historie, Containing the Acts and Monuments of Martyrs, […], volume II, 6th edition, London: […] [Humphrey Lownes] for the Company of Stationers, OCLC 81611923, book VII, marginal note, page 867, column 2:

     The Bailiffes and Syndicks of Merindoll appeare the ſecond time.

   • 1640, John Reynolds, “History XVII”, in The Triumphs of Gods Revenge against the Crying and Execrable Sinne of (Wilfull and Premeditated) Murther. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Edward Griffin for William Lee, […], OCLC 1170654898, book IV, page 269:

     [T]he two Syndicks and the reſt of the Magiſtrates of that City began to pry more narrowly into their ſtay, and more neerely into their actions; […]

   • 1694, [Giovanni Paolo Marana], “Letter I. To Hamet, Reis Effendi, Principal Secretary of the Ottoman Empire.”, in [Daniel Saltmarsh], transl., The Eighth and Last Volume of Letters Writ by a Turkish Spy, Who Liv’d Five and Forty Years Undiscover’d at Paris: […], volume VIII, London: […] J. R. for J. Hindmarsh and R. Sare, […], OCLC 1203333451, book IV, page 232:

     This City is govern'd by a Syndick and Twenty Five Senators, who meet every Day to conſult about the Affairs of the Commonwealth, and to decide all Cauſes, whether Criminal or Civil.

   • 1923, J[oseph] C[harles] Mardrus, “The Tale of the Christian Broker”, in [Edward] Powys Mathers, transl., The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night […], London: Routledge & Kegal Paul […], published 1956, OCLC 54883084, page 253:

     To-morrow, after the midday prayer, mount an ass and make for the Habbānīyah quarter and there inquire for the house of the syndic Barakah, known as Abū Shāmah.

2. (chiefly Britain) An agent of a corporation, or of any body of people engaged in a business enterprise; specifically, in the University of Cambridge, a member of the senate appointed to carry out specific duties.

   In France, syndics are appointed by the creditors of a bankrupt to manage the property.

   The University of Cambridge has syndics who are chosen from the senate to transact special business, such as the regulation of fees and the framing of laws.

• syndick (obsolete)

• syndicship

• Thesaurus:official

Learned borrowing from Late Latin syndicus (“representative of a corporation or town, syndic”), itself a borrowing from Ancient Greek σύνδικος (súndikos, “advocate of a defendant”).

• IPA^(key): /sɛ̃.dik/

• Audio

  (file)

syndic m (plural syndics, feminine syndique)

1. syndic

• syndicat
• syndical

• “syndic”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.