A legislative assembly or representative council, particularly referring to the Russian national parliament or local assemblies in Russia.
From Russian 'duma' (дума), meaning council or assembly, from Old Russian 'dumati' (to think or deliberate). The word entered English during the period of Russian political reform in the early 20th century.
The Russian Duma became famous as a symbol of democratic reform in Tsarist Russia—its establishment in 1906 was a huge deal, and the word appears constantly in historical accounts of pre-Soviet Russia, making it a linguistic marker of that turbulent period.
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