By Betty Kirkpatrick
In its political sense, as opposed to its insurance sense, the word policy refers to a programme of action that has been officially agreed by a particular party. It can also refer to a set of principles on which these are based.
Earlier, the word meant prudence or shrewdness, but these qualities are not always present in the policies of the political parties.
During an election, the parties are anxious to convince the electorate of the advantages that will be conferred on them by their policies, should they snatch a victory in the polls. However, policies are not set in stone and they are not in any way legally binding. This is just as well, since some of them are decidedly unrealistic and some of them are the stuff of fantasy.
Policy does, however, have a connection with the law. It shares a linguistic background with the enforcers of the law, the police.
Policy and police both came into English from French and they are both derived from Latin politia, meaning civil administration or organisation. This in turn comes from Greek politeia, which has the same meaning as the Latin word and has its origins in polis, Greek for a city. Of course polis is also Scots for police in some parts of the country.
Betty Kirkpatrick is the former editor of several classic reference books, including Chambers Twentieth Century Dictionary and Roget’s Thesaurus. She is also the author of several smaller language reference books, including The Usual Suspects and Other Clichés published by Bloomsbury, and a series of Scots titles, including Scottish Words and Phrases, Scottish Quotations, and Great Scots, published by Crombie Jardine.
Want to discuss other issues? Join the debate on our new Scottish Voices forum
Related posts: