e word in this connotation is
somewhat complicated. It is undoubtedly ultimately derived from the
Greek [Greek: diaita] (Lat. _diaeta_), which meant "mode of life" and
thence "prescribed mode of life," the English "diet" or "regimen." This
was connected with the verb [Greek: diaitan], in the sense of "to rule,"
"to regulate"; compare the office of [Greek: diaitetes] at Athens, and
_dieteta_, "umpire," in Late Latin. In both Greek and Latin, too, the
word meant "a room," from which the transition to "a place of assembly"
and so to "an assembly" would be easy. In the latter sense the word,
however, actually occurs only in Low Latin, Du Cange (_Glossarium_,
s.v.) deriving it from the late sense of "meal" or "feast," the Germans
being accustomed to combine their political assemblies with feasting. It
is clear, too, that the word _diaeta_ early became confused with Lat.
_dies_, "day" (Ger. _Tag_), "especially a set day, a day appointed for
public business; whence, by extension, meeting for business, an
assembly" (Skeat). Instances of this confusion are given by Du Cange,
e.g. _diaeta_ for _dieta_, "a day's journey" (also an obsolete sense of
"diet" in English), and _dieta_ for "the ordinary course of the church,"
i.e. "the daily office," which suggests the original sense of _diaeta_
as "a prescribed mode of life."

The word "diet" is now used in English for the _Reichstag_, "imperial
diet" of the old Holy Roman Empire; for the _Bundestag_, "federal diet,"
of the former Germanic confederation; sometimes for the _Reichstag_ of
the modern German empire; for the _Landtage_, "territorial diets" of the
constituent states of the German and Austrian empires; as well as for
the former or existing federal or national assemblies of Switzerland,
Hungary, Poland, &c. Although, however, the word is still sometimes used
of all the above, the tendency is to confine it, so far as contemporary
assemblies are concerned, to those of subordinate importance. Thus
"parliament" is often used of the German _Reichstag_ or of the Russian
Landtag, while the _Landtag_, e.g. of Styria, would always be rendered
"diet." In what follows we confine ourselves to the diet of the Holy
Roman Empire and its relation to its successors in modern Germany.

The origin of the diet, or deliberative assembly, of the Holy Roman
Empire must be sought in the _placitum_ of the Frankish empire. This
represented the tribal assembly of the Franks, meeting (originally in
March