absolute

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˌæb.səˈluːt/, /ˈæb.səl.uːt/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English absolut, borrowed from Latin absolūtus (“freed, unrestricted, complete”),^[2][3][4] the past participle of absolvere “to set free, acquit, complete, make separate”,^[2][3] from ab “off, away” and solvere “to loosen, untie, release”,^[2] from Proto-Indo-European *leu- (“to loosen, divide”).^[2] It was partly influenced by Old French absolut (now absolu).^[5][6] It is related to absolve, solve and dissolve.^[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Free from imperfection, complete, perfect, and as a participle, absolved or detached: about 1374 in the OED,^[7] about 1380 in Barnhart, in Chaucer's translation of Boethius.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline suggests the sense moved from “detached, disengaged” to “perfect, pure”.^[2] “Not relative to anything else” is from the mid-15th century,^[2] and the grammatical sense, as in the ablative absolute, from the late 14th century, after Greek usage.^[2][5] Of degree, complete or utter, as in an absolute fool, is from 1574.^[7][6] The sense “despotic, unlimited in power” is from the 1610s, from the idea of being absolute in position:^[2] absolute king is from the 1610s and absolute monarchy from 1735.^[2] In metaphysics, the absolute is from 1809.^[2] Absolute magnitude is from 1902 and absolute value from 1907.^[2] The earliest senses, absolved or detached, are obsolete.^[7][6]

Timeline

• c. 1374 – perfect, complete; detached.^[7]
• late 14th century – in grammar.^[2]
• mid-15th century – not relative.^[2]
• 1574 – complete, utter.^[7]
• 1610s – despotic, as in absolute king.^[2]
• 1735 – absolute monarchy.^[2]
• 1809 – noun, the absolute.^[2]
• 1902 – absolute magnitude.^[2]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Complete and total: absolute silence.
2. Not limited or restricted: absolute power, an absolute monarch.
3. Certain, definite and not to be doubted.
4. Existing independently and not in relation to anything else.
5. (grammar) Standing apart from the rest of the sentence, as in the ablative absolute.
6. Pure and unmixed: absolute alcohol.

Noun

1. Something that is absolute.
2. (philosophy) the Absolute, the ultimate basis of reality.

Word family

• absoluteness
• absolutism
• nonabsolute
• subabsolute
• absolute alcohol
• absolute altitude
• absolute ceiling
• absolute complement

Related words

• absolution
• absolutize
• absolve
• solve
• dissolve

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press