populace（n.）
“the common people of a community, the multitude; persons not distinguished by rank, education, office, or profession,” 1570s, 源自法语 populace（16世纪），来自意大利语 popolaccio “无赖，乌合之众”，源自 popolo “人民”（源自拉丁语 populus “人民”； 参见 people（n.））+ 贬义后缀 -accio。
That vast portion, lastly, of the working class which, raw and half-developed, has long lain half hidden amidst its poverty and squalor, and is now issuing from its hiding-place to assert an Englishman's heaven-born privilege of doing as he likes, and is beginning to perplex us by marching when it likes, meeting where it likes, bawling what it likes, breaking what it likes — to this vast residuum we may with great propriety give the name of Populace. [Matthew Arnold, "Culture and Anarchy," 1869]
最后，工人阶级的广大部分，原始而半发展，长期隐藏在贫困和肮脏之中，现在正在走出藏身之处，主张英国人与生俱来的自由，想干什么就干什么，开始让我们感到困惑，因为它们想在什么时候游行就游行，在什么地方集会就集会，想喊什么就喊什么，想打砸什么就打砸什么——对于这个广大的残留物，我们可以非常恰当地称之为 Populace（乌合之众）。[马修·阿诺德，《文化与无政府状态》，1869年]
该词起源时间：1570年代