JUNTA (from juntar, to join)

This article appears in Volume V15, Page 561 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: JUN-KHA

JUNTA (from juntar, to join) , a Spanish word meaning (1) any

meeting

MEETING (from " to meet," to come together, assemble, 0. Eng. metals ; cf. Du. moeten, Swed. mota, Goth. gamotjan, &c., derivatives of the Teut. word for a meeting, seen in O. Eng. Wit, moot, an assembly of the people; cf. witanagemot)

for a common purpose; (2) a committee; (3) an administrative council or board. The

original

ORIGINAL

meaning is now rather lost in the two derivative significations. The Spaniards have even begun to make use of the barbarism main, corrupted from the

English

ENGLISH

meeting

MEETING (from " to meet," to come together, assemble, 0. Eng. metals ; cf. Du. moeten, Swed. mota, Goth. gamotjan, &c., derivatives of the Teut. word for a meeting, seen in O. Eng. Wit, moot, an assembly of the people; cf. witanagemot)

." The word junta has always been and still is used in the other senses. Some of the boards by which the Spanish administration was conducted under the

Habsburg

HABSBURG, or HAPSBURG

and the earlier Bourbon kings were styled juntas. The superior governing

body

BODY

of the

Inquisition

INQUISITION, THE (Lat. inquisitio, an inquiry)

was the junta suprema. The provincial committees formed to organize resistance to

Napoleon

NAPOLEON

's invasion in 18o8 were so called, and so was the general committee chosen from among them to represent the nation. In the War of Independence (1808-1814), and in all subsequent civil wars or revolutionary disturbances in Spain or Spanish America, the local executive bodies, elected, or in some cases self-chosen, to appoint

officers

OFFICERS

, raise money and soldiers, look after the wounded, and discharge the functions of an administration, have been known as juntas.
The form " Junto," a corruption due to other Spanish words ending in -o, came into use in

English

ENGLISH

in the 17th century, often in a disparaging sense, of a party united for a political purpose,a

faction

FACTION (through the French, from Lat. factio, a company of persons combined for action, facere, to do; from the other French derivative facon comes " fashion ")

or cabal; it was particularly applied to the advisers of Charles I., to the Rump under Cromwell, and to the leading members of the

great

GREAT

Whig houses who controlled the government in the reigns of William III. and Anne.

End of Article: JUNTA (from juntar, to join)

If you wish, you can link directly to this article.

<a href="http://jcsm.org/StudyCenter/Encyclopedia/JUN_KHA/JUNTA_from_juntar_to_join_.html">
JUNTA (from juntar, to join)
</a>

(Previous)
JUNOT, LAURE, DUCHESS OF ABRANTES (1783-1834)

(Next)
JUPITER

JCSM was founded in 1997 and exists to help the community and bring people into a life-changing and productive relationship with Jesus Christ. JCSM offers over 200,000 free web pages, including its weekly inspirational emails that were sent continuously for over a decade.

Jesus Christ Saves Ministries
P.O. Box 9297
San Diego, CA 92169
1-888-887-0417 or Email