alienation

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English alienacioun, also alyenacioun,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Anglo-Norman alienacioun, also alyenacion, and Middle French alienacion,^[5][4][6] and directly borrowed from Latin aliēnātiō (“transfer of ownership; insensibility; madness; estrangement”).^[5][4][3][7] The French word meant transfer of property from about 1260 in Old French, and mental instability in Anglo-Norman from the second half of the 13th century;^[5][8] the sense of estrangement is recorded in French in 1372.^[5] The Latin noun of action is formed on the past participle stem of aliēnō (“to make another's, part with; estrange”),^[5][4][9] from aliēnus (“belonging to another”), the source of alien,^[4][9] from alius (“other”), from Proto-Indo-European *al- (“beyond”).^[4] The Marxist sense follows German Entfremdung, used by Marx in 1844 after Hegel,^[5] and “alienation effect” translates Verfremdungseffekt.^[5][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Estrangement, the state of being alienated: before 1425, in the later version of the Wycliffite Bible (Job 31).^[5] Etymonline dates the word, as "action of estranging, disownment", to the late 14th century.^[4] The MED's first quotation, from Lydgate's Troy Book (about 1425), has the legal sense of the transfer of a title.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

The word took over three Latin senses in the 15th century: estrangement, the legal transfer of ownership, and the loss of mental faculties.^[5][4] The medical sense, found in a translation of Guy de Chauliac's surgery, is the source of alienist; it is now chiefly historical.^[5][4] Johnson (1755) listed the transfer of property first, then the state of being alienated, a change of affection, and, applied to the mind, disorder of the faculties.^[10] The withdrawal of affection is recorded from 1579, and in American law alienation of affections, the interference of a third party in a marriage, from about 1789;^[5] Etymonline dates the legal phrase to 1861.^[4] The modern social and philosophical sense, a worker's estrangement from the products of his labour, comes from Marx and is recorded in English from 1900,^[5] and the theatrical alienation effect from 1949.^[5][9]

Timeline

• before 1425 – estrangement.^[5]
• before 1425 – mental illness, insanity.^[5][4]
• c. 1425 – the transfer of ownership, especially of land.^[5][2]
• 1562 – change, alteration (obsolete by 1684).^[5]
• 1579 – withdrawal of affection.^[5]
• 1583 – the taking of something without authority.^[5]
• 1644 – diversion of something to another purpose.^[5]
• c. 1789 – alienation of affections, in American law.^[5]
• 1900 – in Marxist theory, workers' estrangement from their labour.^[5]
• 1949 – in the theatre, the alienation effect.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. Estrangement; the turning away of a person's feelings from someone or something once loved: his alienation from his old friends.^[11][3][5]
2. The feeling of being an outsider or isolated, especially from society.^[11][3]
3. In Marxist theory, the estrangement of workers from the products of their labour.^[5]
4. (psychology) A state in which feelings are so suppressed that oneself and the world seem unreal.^[11]
5. (law) The transfer of property, especially land, to another owner; also, the owner's right to make such a transfer.^[11][3][5]
6. (law, chiefly US) alienation of affections: a third party's interference in a marriage.^[5][7]
7. (theatre) The alienation effect: keeping an audience emotionally detached from a play.^[5][9]
8. (historical) Mental derangement; insanity.^[3][5][10]
9. (obsolete, 1562–1684) Change, alteration.^[5]

Word family

• alienative
• nonalienation
• realienation
• alienation of affections

Related words

• alien
• alienate
• alienist
• inalienable

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
9. ^ a b c d e Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins