Etymologically
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captivity

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Pronunciation

  • /kæpˈtɪvɪti/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English captivite, also captiviti,[2][3] borrowed from Latin captīvitās,[2][4][5][6][7][8] with the Middle English form of the suffix -ity.[2] Merriam-Webster and Dictionary.com take it through French,[9][10] but the OED points out that the Old French word was chetiveté and that Littré records the French form of the Latin word only from the 15th century, so the Middle English word may come straight from Latin.[6][7] The Latin noun is from captīvus (“caught, taken prisoner”), the source of captive, from captus, the past participle of capiō (“to take, hold, seize”), from Proto-Indo-European *kap- (“to grasp”).[7][8] Old English expressed the idea with gehæftnes, from the root of haft.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Capture, the state of being held prisoner: about 1400 (perhaps composed about 1380), in Cleanness, of Daniel taken in the captivity of the Jews.[2][6] Etymonline dates it to the late 14th century.[7]

Semantic evolution

The first quotation already refers to the captivity of the Jews in Babylon, the Captivity.[6][4][2] Chaucer used it once.[11] From before 1538 it was used figuratively, of the reason, will or feelings held in subjection.[6][7] From 1774, in Goldsmith, it was used of animals kept caged or confined.[6] In Tyndale's Bible (1526) and after, it could stand for the captives themselves, a Hebraism kept in the phrase to lead captivity captive; the OED's record of it ends in 1667.[6][9] Johnson (1755) defined it first as subjection by the fate of war, quoting King Lear.[12] In Roxburghshire Scots gane to captivity meant wasted or destroyed.[13]

Timeline

  • c. 1400 – the state of being a prisoner, especially of the Jews in Babylon.[6][2]
  • 1526 – captives collectively (obsolete by 1667).[6]
  • before 1538 – figurative subjection of the mind or will.[6][7]
  • 1755 – Johnson defines it as subjection by the fate of war, bondage.[12]
  • 1774 – of a captive animal.[6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The state of being held prisoner, especially in war; imprisonment: The hostages were released after a year in captivity.[14][9][6]
  2. The state of being kept in a cage or enclosure, of an animal: Some parrots live for decades in captivity.[9][6]
  3. The period during which someone is held captive.[14]
  4. Subjection to the control or domination of another.[9][6]
  5. (archaic) Captives taken together as a group.[9][6]

Word family

  • precaptivity
  • semicaptivity

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f 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. ^ Stratmann, Francis Henry (1891), A Middle-English Dictionary, revised by Henry Bradley, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  8. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  9. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  10. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  11. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
  12. ^ 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.
  13. ^ 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)
  14. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins