psephology

English

WOTD – 12 May 2011

Etymology

From psepho- (“pebble”) +‎ -ology (“study of”), drawing on the various definitions of Ancient Greek ψῆφος (psêphos, “pebble used for reckoning; pebble used for casting a vote”). The sense relating to elections was coined in 1948 by Frank Hardie.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /sɪ.ˈfɒl.ə.d͡ʒi/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /sɪ.ˈfɑl.ə.d͡ʒi/

Noun

psephology (uncountable)

1. The predictive or statistical study of elections. [From 1952]
   • 1952, D. E. Butler, The British general election of 1951:

     It therefore seems appropriate to preface this book with a discussion of why elections merit study and an examination of how much has been or can be learnt from psephology.

2. An ancient Greek method of numerology, similar to gematria.
   • 1917, The Quest – Volume 8, Part 2, page 698:

     Let us first see how the matter of this letter-numbering or psephology stands generally. The authors think that both the Greek and Hebrew method derive from a common source. But there is no proof of this; indeed the weak point in the whole of this exposition is that they entirely neglect the historical side of the matter and give no references.

   • 1924, George Robert Stow Mead, Gnostic John the Baptizer: Selections from the Mandæan John-Book, Together with Studies on John and Christian Origins, the Slavonic Josephus' Account of John and Jesus and the Fourth Gospel Proem, →ISBN:

     The numbers 99, 88, and 22 seem to belong to some system of mystic psephology, Or gematria as the Kabbalists afterwards called it.

   • 2013, Andrew Gregory, The Presocratics and the Supernatural, →ISBN:

     What I want to point out here is that there is a considerable breadth of numerological practices, ranging from psephology/gematria through to practices close to mathematical physics which are deemed to be too much driven by mathematical or aesthetic considerations.

Derived terms

• psephological
• psephologist

Related terms

• psephocracy

Translations

the predictive or statistical study of elections

• Burmese: ဝရဏဗေဒ (wa.ra.na.beda.)
• Dutch: psefologie, bestudering van het kiezersgedrag
• Finnish: vaalitutkimus, psepologia
• French: pséphologie f
• Georgian: პსეფოლოგია (ṗsepologia)
• German: Psephologie f
• Italian: psefologia f
• Persian: انتخابات‌پژوهی (fa) (entexâbât-pažuhi)
• Russian: псефология f (psefologija)
• Spanish: psefología f
• Thai: วิทยาการเลือกตั้ง (wít-tá-yaa-gaan-lʉ̂ʉak-dtâng)