It has been observed by a learned annotator on the _Commentaries of
Blackstone_, that, "no inconsiderable pains have been bestowed in
analysing the word 'Parliament;'" and after adducing several amusing
instances of the attempts that have been made (and those too by men of
the most recondite learning) to arrive at its true radical properties,
he concludes his remarks by observing that
"'Parliament' imported originally nothing more than a council or
conference, and that the termination '_ment_,' in parliament,
has no more signification than it has in _impeachment_,
_engagement_, _imprisonment_, _hereditament_, and ten thouand
others of the same nature."
He admits, however, that the civilians have, in deriving testament from
_testari mentem_, imparted a greater significance to the termination
"ment." Amidst such diversity of opinion, I am emboldened to offer a
solution of the word "Parliament," which, from its novelty alone, if
possessing no better qualification, may perhaps recommend itself to the
consideration of your readers. In my humble judgment, all former
etymologists of the word appear to have stumbled _in limine_, for I
would suggest that its compounds are "_palam_" and "_mens_."
With the Romans there existed a law that in certain cases the verdict of
the jury might be given CLAM VEL PALAM, viz., _privily_ or _openly_, or
in other words, by _tablet_ or _ballot_, or by _voices_. Now as the
essence of a Parliament or council of the people was its representative
character, and as secrecy would be inconsistent with such a character,
it was doubtless a _sine quâ non_ that its proceedings should be
conducted "_palam_," in an open manner. The absence of the letter "_r_"
may possibly be objected to, but a moment's reflection will cast it into
the shade, the classical pronunciation of the word _palam_ being the
same as if spelt _PARlam_; and the illiterate state of this country when
the word Parliament was first introduced would easily account for a
_phonetic_ style of orthography. The words enumerated by Blackstone's
annotator are purely of English composition, and have no _correspondent_
in the dead languages; whilst _testament_, _sacrament_, _parliament_,
and many others, are Latin words Anglicised by dropping the termination
"_um_"--a great distinction as regards the relative value of words,
which the learned annotator seems to have overlooked. "_Mentum_" is
doubtless the offspring of "_mens_", signifying the mind, thought,
deliberation, opinion; and as we find "_palam populo_" to mean "_in the
sight of the people_," so, without any great stretch of imagination, may
we interpret "_palam mente_" into "_freedom of thought or of
deliberation_" or "_an open expression of opinion_:" the essential
qualities of a representative system, and which our ancestors have been
careful to hand down to posterity in a word, viz., _Parliament_.