Community

From Citizendium
Revision as of 23:08, 12 October 2007 by imported>Matt Mahlmann
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This article is a stub and thus not approved.
Main Article
Discussion
Related Articles  [?]
Bibliography  [?]
External Links  [?]
Citable Version  [?]
 
This editable Main Article is under development and subject to a disclaimer.

A community is a social group of organisms sharing an environment, normally with shared interests. In human communities, intent, belief, resources, preferences, needs, risks and a number of other conditions may be present and common, affecting the identity of the participants and their degree of cohesiveness.

The word community comes from the Latin communis, meaning "common, public, shared by all or many."[1] The Latin term "communitatus" from which the English word "community" comes, comprises three elements, "Com" — a Latin prefix meaning with or together, "Munis" — ultimately Proto-Indo-European in origin, it has been suggested that it means "the changes or exchanges that link" (Both municipal and monetary take their meaning here), and "tatus" a Latin suffix suggesting diminutive, small, intimate or local.