# Is there a specific term for a member of a Diet? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 31, 2009, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-specific-term-for-a-member-of-a-diet/504891 "2009-07-31T17:44:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2009, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-specific-term-for-a-member-of-a-diet/504891/1 "2009-07-31T17:44:41Z")
I refer, of course, to deliberative assembly such as the parliament of the Holy Roman Empire. Anybody know a specific term for a member of that body? ---
**Author:** ![runcible\_spoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9fc29f/32.png) [@runcible\_spoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/runcible_spoon)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2009, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-specific-term-for-a-member-of-a-diet/504891/2 "2009-07-31T18:12:51Z")
Dieticians? Seriously, though, given the rather non-uniform nature of the Empire, plus the fact that everyone involved would already have their own titles, I’m not sure there’s any unifying term. Wiki just lists them as participants, for what it’s worth. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2009, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-specific-term-for-a-member-of-a-diet/504891/3 "2009-07-31T19:28:42Z")
Please let it be [_worm_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diet_of_worms). Please let it be _worm_. ---
**Author:** ![Absolute](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b2d939/32.png) [@Absolute](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Absolute)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2009, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-specific-term-for-a-member-of-a-diet/504891/4 "2009-08-01T05:18:14Z")
Fatass? ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2009, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-specific-term-for-a-member-of-a-diet/504891/5 "2009-08-01T19:35:20Z")
I don’t know if there’s a word better than Diet member out there, but I’d be interested in hearing too. I bet your answer varies greatly depending on _which_ diet you’re talking about. For example, the Japanese word is 国会議員, kokkai giin. Wikipedia translates it simply as “Member of Parliament.” ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2009, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-specific-term-for-a-member-of-a-diet/504891/6 "2009-08-01T21:08:56Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > I don’t know if there’s a word better than Diet member out there, but I’d be interested in hearing too. I bet your answer varies greatly depending on _which_ diet you’re talking about. > > For example, the Japanese word is 国会議員, kokkai giin. Wikipedia translates it simply as “Member of Parliament.” The Diet that brought up the question is a fictional organization, existing in a fantasy world in which multiple fantasy species and nations coexist; some of the nations have an organization like unto the HR Diet, composed of the rulers of various nations or their designates. So some members of my fictional Diet are princes; others are governors; others are matriarchs; others are delegates. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2009, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-specific-term-for-a-member-of-a-diet/504891/7 "2009-08-01T21:28:01Z")
Is “Diet” a Latin word or a German word? There is probably some trivial modifier, which probably looks silly to an English-speaker. (I don’t speak either language, so I have no idea how it might be conjugated.) ---
**Author:** ![Mops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mops/32/16494_2.png) [@Mops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mops)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2009, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-specific-term-for-a-member-of-a-diet/504891/8 "2009-08-01T21:33:14Z")
As far as the HRE is concerned, I’d refer to them collectively as the _representatives of the estates_ (of the empire). NB part of those attending were members of the _Reichstag_ in their own right (princes, bishops and abbots) and part were just persons standing in for their estate (plenipotentiaries of princes, bishops and abbots who did not attend themselves, and representatives of the Imperial Cities). ---
**Author:** ![Mops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mops/32/16494_2.png) [@Mops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mops)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2009, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-specific-term-for-a-member-of-a-diet/504891/9 "2009-08-01T21:38:28Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > Is “Diet” a Latin word or a German word? There is probably some trivial modifier, which probably looks silly to an English-speaker. > > (I don’t speak either language, so I have no idea how it might be conjugated.) _Diet_ comes from Latin into English - it is not part of the original German name of those assemblies referred to as a diet in English (the German name usually is something ending on -tag, as in Reichstag, Bundestag, Landtag). The Japanese parliament is apparently also referred as a diet in English but not in Japanese. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-specific-term-for-a-member-of-a-diet/504891/10 "2009-08-02T00:08:03Z")
Diet: from ME _diete_, from ML _dieta_, ultimately from L. _dies_, day. So named because it met daily. In German, the -tag suffix comes from the same derivation: Tag = day in German. Thus, Bundestag is the “Federal Diet”, or if you wish, the federal daily meeting of legislators. In Japan, the Meiji Constitution had a heavy Prussian influence. Thus, the use of the term “Diet” to describe its parliament.