Definitions given to the communities by the different authors approaching the subject tend
to insist rather on their sociological and anthropological characteristics having as result a
combination of relative small scale, boundedness, and strong ties among their members without
delineating with precision their boundaries as a local community (Marquis and Battilana, 2009).
The origins of the term “community” are to be found in the old French word “communité”, which
derives from the Latin “communitas” (“cum” meaning “with/together” and “munus” meaning
“gift”), a broad term used to describe fellowship or organized society (Beck, 1992).