A gazette is an
official journal
A government gazette (also known as an official gazette, official journal, official newspaper, official monitor or official bulletin) is a periodical publication that has been authorised to publish public or legal notices. It is usually establis ...
, a
newspaper of record
A newspaper of record is a major national newspaper with large circulation whose editorial and news-gathering functions are considered authoritative and independent; they are thus "newspapers of record by reputation" and include some of the o ...
, or simply a
newspaper.
In English and French speaking countries, newspaper publishers have applied the name ''Gazette'' since the 17th century; today, numerous weekly and daily newspapers bear the name ''The Gazette''.
Etymology
''Gazette'' is a
loanword from the French language, which is, in turn, a 16th-century permutation of the Italian ''gazzetta'', which is the name of a particular
Venetian
Venetian often means from or related to:
* Venice, a city in Italy
* Veneto, a region of Italy
* Republic of Venice (697–1797), a historical nation in that area
Venetian and the like may also refer to:
* Venetian language, a Romance language s ...
coin. ''Gazzetta'' became an
epithet
An epithet (, ), also byname, is a descriptive term (word or phrase) known for accompanying or occurring in place of a name and having entered common usage. It has various shades of meaning when applied to seemingly real or fictitious people, di ...
for ''newspaper'' during the early and middle 16th century, when the first Venetian newspapers cost one gazzetta. (Compare with other vernacularisms from publishing lingo, such as the British ''
penny dreadful'' and the American ''
dime novel''.) This loanword, with its various
corruptions, persists in numerous modern languages (
Slavic languages,
Turkic languages).
Government gazettes
In
England, with the 1700 founding of ''The Oxford Gazette'' (which became the ''
London Gazette
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
''), the word ''gazette'' came to indicate a public journal of the government; today, such a journal is sometimes called a
government gazette. For some governments, publishing information in a gazette was or is a legal necessity by which official documents
come into force
In law, coming into force or entry into force (also called commencement) is the process by which legislation, regulations, treaties and other legal instruments come to have legal force and effect. The term is closely related to the date of this t ...
and enter the
public domain. Such is the case for documents published in ''
Royal Thai Government Gazette'' (est. 1858), and in ''
The Gazette of India'' (est. 1950).
The
government of the United Kingdom requires government gazettes of its member countries. Publication of the ''
Edinburgh Gazette'', the official government newspaper in Scotland, began in 1699. The ''
Dublin Gazette'' of
Ireland followed in 1705, but ceased when the
Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom in 1922; the ''
Iris Oifigiúil
''Iris Oifigiúil'' (; "''Official Journal''") is the official gazette of the Government of Ireland. It replaced ''The Dublin Gazette'', the gazette of the Dublin Castle administration, on 31 January 1922. ''The Belfast Gazette'' was established ...
'' (Irish: ''Official Gazette'') replaced it. The ''
Belfast Gazette'' of
Northern Ireland published its first issue in 1921.
''Gazette'' as a verb
Chiefly in British English, the
transitive verb ''to gazette'' means "to announce or publish in a gazette"; especially where ''gazette'' refers to a public journal or a newspaper of record. For example, "
Lake Nakuru was gazetted as a bird sanctuary in 1960 and upgraded to
National Park
A national park is a nature park, natural park in use for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state dec ...
status in 1968."
British Army personnel decorations, promotions, and officer commissions are gazetted in the ''
London Gazette
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
'', the "Official Newspaper of Record for the United Kingdom". ''Gazettal'' (a noun) is the act of gazetting; for example, "the gazettal of the bird sanctuary".
See also
*
Gazetteer
*
List of British colonial gazettes
*
List of English words of French origin
A great number of words of French origin have entered the English language to the extent that many Latin words have come to the English language. According to different sources, 45% of all English words have a French origin. This suggests that 80 ...
*
List of government gazettes
References
External links
*
Newspaper terminology
Italian inventions
Westminster system×××·
{{newspaper-stub
