junta

/hoon"teuh, jun"-, hun"-/, n.

1. a small group ruling a country, esp. immediately after a coup d'état and before a legally constituted government has been instituted.

2. a council.

3. a deliberative or administrative council, esp. in Spain and Latin America.

4. junto.

[1615-25; < Sp: a meeting, n. use of fem. of L junctus, ptp. of jungere to JOIN; see JUNCTION]

Pronunciation. When the word JUNTA was borrowed into English from Spanish in the early 17th century, its pronunciation was thoroughly Anglicized to /jun"teuh/. The 20th century has seen the emergence and, especially in North America, the gradual predominance of the pronunciation /hoon"teuh/, derived from Spanish /hoohn"tah/ through reassociation with the word's Spanish origins. A hybrid form /hun"teuh/ is also heard.

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▪ political committee

      (Spanish: “meeting”), committee or administrative council, particularly one that rules a country after a coup d'etat and before a legal government has been established. The word was widely used in the 16th century to refer to numerous government consultative committees. The Spanish resistance to Napoleon's invasion (1808) was organized by the juntas provinciales; the national committee was the junta suprema central. In subsequent civil wars or revolutionary disturbances in Spain, Greece, or Latin America, similar bodies, elected or self-appointed, have usually been called juntas.

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