Other forms: tribunes
A tribune was an official who defended the interests of ordinary people. Tribune of the plebs, a tribune of the people, elected tribune.
In Rome the tribunes were the one office ordinary citizens could hold, and they could veto acts of the senate — a real check on power for a while. The word survives as a newspaper name and as a name for anybody who speaks for the powerless.
1nountribuneAn official who defends the interests of ordinary people.
“The newspaper saw itself as a tribune of working people against the rich.”
tribune is an official.
You already know tribe. In Rome each tribe sent one man to argue for it in front of the men in charge, and that man was the tribune: their voice, paid for by them.
hooks ontotribe
Latin tribunus comes from tribus, a tribe, since the office originally represented the tribes of Rome.
Latin
tribunus — tribune, tribal leader
Old French
tribun
Middle English
tribune
English, today
tribune
Built from
From Middle English tribune, from Old French tribun, tribune, from Latin tribunus (“tribune, tribal leader”), from tribus (“tribe”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA