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In politics, a 'diet' is a formal deliberative assembly. The term is derived from Medieval Latin ''dietas'', and ultimately comes from the Latin ''dies'', "day". The word came to be used in this sense because these assemblies met on a daily basis.

Contents

Historic uses

Current use

See also

Historic uses

In this sense, it commonly refers to the ''Reichstag'' assemblies of the Holy Roman Empire; see Reichstag (institution), Diet of Augsburg, Diet of Nuremberg, Diet of Regensburg, Diet of Speyer and Diet of Worms.
The Riksdag of the Estates was the diet of the four estates of Sweden, from the 15th century until 1866. The Diet of Finland was the successor to the Riksdag of the Estates in the Grand Duchy of Finland, from 1809 to 1906.
The Swiss Diet was known as Tagsatzung.
In other countries the name of the comparable assembly came from the ''generality'' of the States:

★ Belgium and the Netherlands: Staten Generaal

★ France: États Généraux

★ Spain: Generalitat de Catalunya, Generalitat Valenciana, Cortes Generales

Current use

★ The modern German parliament, called the ''Bundestag'', literally means "Federal Diet"; the derivation is that "tag" in German means "day," indicating the Latin-derived meaning. The term is rarely if ever translated into English in English-language texts, even on first reference.

★ The name of the Swedish parliament is the ''Riksdag'', which being cognate to German ''Reichstag'' literally means "Diet of the Realm" or "Diet of the Nation."

★ The Japanese Parliament (the ''Kokkai'') is conventionally called the Diet in English, indicating the heavy Prussian influence on the Meiji Constitution, Japan's first modern written constitution.

See also

★ The States

★ Landtag

★ Federal Assembly