Thank you! I'd never heard of the term used other than in relation to the British Commonwealth of Nations. Have been reading a book on the history of Bankside in London and came across the term related to Cromwellian times. My general history knowledge is poor I'm afraid, tends to have been acquired rather piecemeal with whole chunks not covered at school! Trying to self educate throws up these areas of confusion and misunderstanding.
The term Commonwealth is an English noun, the usage of which can be traced back to the 15th century. The original term 'common wealth' or 'common weal' is derived from the old meaning of wealth which actually meant well being. The term actually refereed to 'common well-being'.
Hence, the commonwealth initially referred to a government for the common good as compared to a dictatorial form of government that was only interested in the well being of a particular category of owners.
Today, the term has changed and become more generalized to mean simply a political community. A commonwealth can mean many things, for example, it could refer to a political unit for the common good, a united federation of constituent states or even a republic. As a proper noun, the 'Commonwealth' generally refers to the Commonwealth of Nations, which is a loose union of nations that were previously entities of the British Empire.
