Sense file
How the sense moved
The archive follows the dated record first, then reads the social or rhetorical pressure that hardened, softened, narrowed, or reversed the word.
Older meaning
Popular government or rule by the common people.
Modern meaning
Government by the people; also a broad legitimacy word for public rule and consent.
Research lens
Important because institutional form and moral legitimacy keep collapsing into one another in ordinary political speech.
Meaning trail
Root
rule of the people
The older structure is political and fairly explicit.
Older sense
popular government
The word named a recognizable form of public rule.
Now
institutional form and moral badge
Modern use often blends mechanism, identity, and legitimacy.