Etymologically
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bondage

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈbɒn.dɪd͡ʒ/[1]
  • US: /ˈbɑn.dɪd͡ʒ/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English bondage,[2][3] borrowed from Anglo-Norman bondage (“villeinage, tenure by villein service”),[3][4][2][5][6] and in part borrowed from Medieval Latin bondagium, its Anglo-Latin form,[3][4][7][8][9] recorded before 1221.[4] Both are formed on Middle English bonde (“serf, tenant farmer”) with the suffix -age;[3][2][7][4] the OED notes that the native formations were bondehede and bondship.[3] The Middle English noun is bōnda (“householder, husbandman”),[10][4][11][12] recorded about 1025 in the laws of Cnut,[4] borrowed from Old Norse bóndi (“free-born farmer, householder”), earlier búandi, the present participle of búa (“to dwell, live”).[11][4][12][8] Etymonline traces it further to Proto-Indo-European *bheue- (“to be, exist, grow”).[10] The sense was influenced by bond in the sense "fetter, that which binds",[3][9][8] which Skeat put down to confusion with the verb bind.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The condition of a serf or slave; servitude: 1303, in Mannyng's Handlyng Synne, according to Barnhart,[4] and 1330, in Mannyng's Chronicle, according to the OED.[3] The Middle English Dictionary also has the feudal tenure or status of a bondman, the service owed by a customary tenant, and the class of bondmen as a whole.[2]

Semantic evolution

The figurative sense, subjection to some binding power, influence or obligation, is recorded from before 1450,[3] and in 1583 the word was applied to the condition of an apprentice.[3] Shakespeare used it in 1609 for the state of being bound or tied up,[3] a poetic sense, and Johnson (1755) defined it as captivity, imprisonment or restraint.[13] As a historical term for tenure in villeinage it is recorded from 1651,[3] and in Scotland and Northumberland it was the service a tenant owed to the landowner, or a cottager to the farmer, recorded from 1818 and also spelled bonage;[3][14] the OED links this use with the bondager, a female farm worker.[3] The sexual sense, binding a partner with rope or handcuffs, dates by Etymonline to 1963, in a New York law against publications that portrayed it,[10] and in the OED to 1966;[3] from 1980 bondage also described the strapped and buckled clothing of punks.[3] In Harlem slang of the 1940s bondage meant debts.[15]

Timeline

  • before 1221 – Anglo-Latin bondagium.[4]
  • 1303 – the condition of a serf or slave.[4][3]
  • before 1450 – figurative, subjection to a binding power or influence.[3]
  • 1609 – the state of being bound or tied up, in Shakespeare.[3]
  • 1611 – verb, to enslave.[3]
  • 1651 – tenure in villeinage.[3]
  • 1818 – in Scotland, the services due from a tenant.[3][14]
  • 1963 – sexual bondage.[10]
  • 1980 – punk bondage clothing.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The state of being a slave or serf; servitude or slavery.[16][7][3]
  2. The state of being bound by or subject to some power or influence: years of bondage to debt.[7][3][9]
  3. A sexual practice in which one partner is tied up or restrained.[16][3]
  4. (historical) The tenure or service of a villein; villeinage.[16][7][3]
  5. (Scotland) The services due from a tenant farmer to a landowner, or from a cottager to the farmer.[7][3][14]

References

  1. ^ a b 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 s t u v w x y z 27 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  5. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  6. ^ a b Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  8. ^ a b c Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  10. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  11. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  12. ^ a b Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
  13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  14. ^ a b c Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
  15. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  16. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins