fourth estate 的詞源

“新聞界”（the press）在1824年，尤其是從1831年開始在英國英語中使用。至於另外三個詞，見 estate。在此之前，該術語曾被用於各種沒有留下痕跡的意義，包括“暴民”（1752年），“律師”（1825年）。將其擴展到新聞界可能是前者的產物。

Hence, through the light of letters and the liberty of the press, public opinion has risen to the rank of a fourth estate in our constitution; in times of quiet and order, silent and still, but in the collisions of the different branches of our government, deciding as an umpire with unbounded authority. ["Memoir of James Currie, M.D.," 1831]

因此，通過文字的啓示和新聞自由， public opinion 在我們的憲法中上升爲第四權力； 在平靜和秩序的時期，沉默而靜止，但在政府不同分支之間的衝突中，作爲裁判員擁有無限的權威。【《詹姆斯·柯瑞醫生回憶錄》，1831年】

[Newspapers] began to assume some degree of political importance, during the civil wars of the seventeenth century, in England; but it is not until within the last fifty years that they have become, — as they are now justly styled, — a Fourth Estate, exercising a more powerful influence on the public affairs of the countries in which they are permitted to circulate freely, than the other three put together. [Alexander H. Everett, "Address to the Phi Beta Kappa Society of Bowdoin College," 1834]

在英國17世紀的內戰期間，報紙開始具有一定的政治重要性； 但直到最近50年，它們才成爲——正如它們現在被公正地稱呼的那樣——一個 Fourth Estate，對於它們被允許自由傳播的國家的公共事務產生比其他三個權力加起來更強大的影響。【亞歷山大·H·埃弗雷特，《博德因學院菲貝塔卡帕學會演講》，1834年】