"pertaining to an Eastern Christian church that acknowledges the supremacy of the Pope," 1833, from Russian uniyat, from unia "unity, union," from Latin unus "one" (from PIE root *oi-no- "one, unique").
mid-14c., "pre-eminence," from Anglo-French sovereynete, Old French souverainete, from soverain (see sovereign (adj.)). Meaning "authority, rule, supremacy of power or rank" is recorded from late 14c.; sense of "existence as an independent state" is from 1715.
1818, in philosophy, "belief in the supremacy of the intellect," probably based on German Intellektualismus (said by Klein to have been coined 1803 by Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von Schelling (1775-1854) from Late Latin intellectualis); see intellectual + -ism. Meaning "devotion to intellectuality" also is from 1818.
used from c. 1946 in a variety of senses, both by those supporting and those opposed to whatever it was: American intervention in foreign conflicts, a global foreign policy; supremacy of global institutions over national ones; a worldwide extension of capitalist market systems; from global + -ism. Related: Globalist.
late 15c., suserente, "supremacy," from Old French suserenete "office or jurisdiction of a suzerain" (Modern French suzeraineté), from suserain (see suzerain). Modern use (by 1823) probably is a re-borrowing and for 20 years or so it was treated as a French word in English.
late 14c., primacie, "preeminent position, supremacy, condition of being first in order, power, or importance," from Old French primacie (14c.; Modern French primatie) and directly from Medieval Latin primatia "office of a church primate" (12c.), from Late Latin primas (genitive primatis) "principal, chief, of the first rank," from primus "first" (see prime (adj.)).
