Etymology

The adjective is the usual feminine form of جماهيري, the nisba adjective of جماهير.

The noun is a neologism coined by Muammar Gaddafi in 1977 based on جُمْهُورِيَّة ‎(jumhūriyya, “republic”), by changing the first element, جُمْهُور ‎(jumhūr, “public”), to its plural form, جَمَاهِير ‎(jamāhīr, “the masses”)