Italian

Noun

provincia f. (plural province or provincie)

1. province

Latin

Noun

prōvincia (genitive prōvinciae); f, first declension

1. province, office, duty, command

   Provinciam remitto.

   I abandon my province.

Inflection

Derived terms

• prōvinciālis
• prōvinciātim

Descendants

• English: province

Spanish

A province is a territorial unit, almost always an administrative division, within a country or state.

Roman provinces

The Roman Empire was divided into provinces (provinciae).

The English word "province" is attested since about 1330 and derives from the 13th-century Old French "province," which itself comes from the Latin word "provincia," which referred to the sphere of authority of a magistrate; in particular, to a foreign territory.

A possible Latin etymology is from "pro-" ("on behalf of") and "vincere" ("to triumph" or "to take control of"). Thus a "province" was a territory or function that a Roman magistrate held control of on behalf of his government. This, however, does not tally with the Latin term's earlier usage as a generic term for a jurisdiction under Roman law.