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" In such wars a posse comitatus marches ahead of the disciplined army. "
Posse comitatus \Pos"se com`i*ta"tus\ [L. posse to be able, to
have power + LL. comitatus a county, from comes, comitis, a
count. See County, and Power.]
1. (Law) The power of the county, or the citizens who may be
summoned by the sheriff to assist the authorities in
suppressing a riot, or executing any legal precept which
is forcibly opposed. --Blackstone.
2. A collection of people; a throng; a rabble. [Colloq.]
Note: The word comitatus is often omitted, and posse alone
used. ``A whole posse of enthusiasts.'' --Carlyle.
As if the passion that rules were the sheriff of
the place, and came off with all the posse.
--Locke.
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So, does the 'count' here refer to what was once owned by a count--or does the 'count' here refer to the people in a province who were counted? I would think it would have been the people under the leadership of a count. Set me straight.
To sum this up: posse comitatus would have been the power of the count [if it was the ruler] or county, yes?
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does the 'count' here refer to what was once owned by a count?Yup. Compare comitatus with the French comte. Count, meaning enumerating, comes from computare. http://www.bartleby.com/61/36/C0693600.html
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Thank you, Faldage.
Did you see on the other thread, by the way, that chad can take an 's'?
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Yes, count as in earl or thane. The Latin comes, comitatis, originally meant 'companion, escort' from the roots for com 'with' and eo, ire 'go'. (Whereas a companion is somebody you break bread with.) In the '70s, there was a group of right-wing types who argued that the power to police at the county level was not in the hands of any police force but in the people's right to form a posse commitatus, i.e., the posse of the old West. They were also investigated on tax evasion and domestic terrorism. More info http://foia.fbi.gov/posse.htm
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Interesting. It would be good to know when these posses were so formed and actually referred to as a posse comitatus.
It's also interesting to read in jheem's commentary about the connection between count and companion--someone to break bread with. I would imagine there had been a divide between the earls and thanes--and those with whom they trusted enough to share the breaking of bread.
As a slight tangent, there is a moment in Poe's 'Tell-Tale Heart' in which Poe writes that men had been 'deputed' to investigate a cry heard in the night from the house in which the central persona of the tale had murdered the old man. That is the only instance I can recall in a story in which the verb 'to depute' had been chosen over the use of the noun 'deputies.' It is clear that a posse comitatus would be called out for more of a general public thread than an isolated murder as in the Poe story.
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What is that group of cardinals called that names the new Pope?
(no, this isn't a riddle. I've forgotten the word and it's bothering me)
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Well, if you're going to introduce another tangent, at least let us know how you got there. Ha! Edgar Allan Pope? [Just kidding.]
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The OED has a citation from the 13th century in Anglo-Latin. So, I'd say it predates the Wild West.
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