benevolence

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English benevolence, also benivolence,^[2] borrowed from Old French benivolence^{[3][4][5][6][7]} and directly borrowed from Latin benevolentia (“well-wishing, good will, kindness”),^[4][5][2][8] from benevolēns (“wishing well”),^[3][6] which is formed from bene (“well”) and volēns, the present participle of volō (“to wish”).^[4][5] The American Heritage Dictionary traces the parts to Proto-Indo-European *deu- and Proto-Indo-European *wel-.^[9] According to the OED, the Old French form was a learned or semi-popular adaptation of the Latin; the real French descendant was Old French bienvoillance, later French bienveillance.^[3] Caxton took from it bienveullance.^[3] In English the word was soon further latinized, if it does not come straight from Latin.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A disposition to do good; kindness and charitable feeling: about 1384, in Hoccleve's Mother of God,^[3] a text that the Middle English Dictionary dates to before 1430.^[2] Barnhart and Etymonline have about 1400,^[5][4] and Dictionary.com 1350–1400.^[10]

Semantic evolution

Middle English used the word both for general good will and for a favourable feeling toward a particular person, as in being in someone's good graces;^[2][3] the second use, recorded from 1423, died out in the early 19th century.^[3][11] From about 1425 it also named the thing done out of good will: an act of kindness or a gift of money.^[3][11] Edward IV in 1473 first gave the name to a forced loan or contribution to the crown, levied without legal authority, which he "asked" for as a token of good will toward his rule.^[3][4][11] Johnson (1755) listed the disposition, the charity given, and "a kind of tax".^[12] Etymonline quotes Coleridge in Southey's Omniana (1812) separating the word from mere sensibility: "Benevolence impels to action, and is accompanied by self-denial."^[4] In slang from about 1700 it could also mean doing good in the hope of receiving the same, often as a euphemism for sexual intercourse.^[13]

Timeline

• c. 1384 – the disposition to do good; kindness.^[3]
• 1423 – favourable feeling toward a particular person, in the Kingis Quair (obsolete after 1817).^[3]
• c. 1425 – an act of kindness; a gift or grant of money.^[3]
• 1473 – a forced loan to the crown, first so called under Edward IV; the OED's first quotation is an Act of 1483.^[3][4]
• c. 1700 – in slang, doing good in the hope of a return.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. An inclination to do good to others; kindness, goodwill or charity: The old doctor was known for her benevolence toward poor patients.^[14][8][3]
2. An act of kindness; a charitable gift.^[14][8][3]
3. (English history) A forced loan or contribution demanded by English kings from their subjects without legal authority.^[14][3][11]
4. (obsolete, 1423–1817) A favourable feeling or affection toward a particular person.^[3][11]

Word family

• unbenevolence

Related words

• benevolent
• malevolence
• voluntary
• will

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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 g h i j k l m n o p q r Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
10. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
11. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
13. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
14. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins