commonwealth

name

1. A barangay of Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines.
2. A barangay of Rosario, Northern Samar, Philippines.
3. A barangay of Aurora, Zamboanga del Sur, Philippines.

noun

Etymology: From common (“public”) + wealth (“well-being”). From c. 1450 as common wele (commonweal). In the form common-wealth (common welthe) from c. 1520, used by Tyndale in the sense "secular society" in particular, for which other authors preferred publike weal. Also from the 1520s treated as a synonym or loan-translation of res publica (republic) (Rollison 2017:67f).

1. The well-being of a community.
2. The entirety of a (secular) society, a polity, a state.

   “Remeber I saye yt ye were at that tyme wt oute Christ and were reputed aliantes from the comen welth [πολιτεία (politeía)] of Israel and were straugers fro the testamentes of promes and had no hope and were with out god in this worlde.”

   “I'th' commonwealth I would by contraries Execute all things, for no kind of traffic Would I admit; no name of magistrate[…]”

3. Republic. Often capitalized, as Commonwealth.

   “1649, Act of the Long Parliament Be it declared and enacted by this present Parliament and by the Authoritie of the same That the People of England and of all the Dominions and Territoryes thereunto belonging are and shall be and are hereby constituted, made, established, and confirmed to be a Commonwealth and free State And shall from henceforth be Governed as a Commonwealth and Free State by the supreame Authoritie of this Nation, the Representatives of the People in Parliam[ent] and by such as they shall appoint and constitute as Officers and Ministers under them for the good of the People and that without any King or House of Lords.”