disobedience

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English disobedience, also disobediaunce,^[2] borrowed from Old French desobedience (Middle French in Merriam-Webster),^{[3][4][5][6][7][8]} from Vulgar Latin *disoboedientia,^[4][5] a formation from Latin dis- and oboedientia (“obedience”), the noun of oboediō (“to obey”), which replaced the Latin inoboedientia.^[4][5] The OED calls it a Romance formation standing for the Latin noun, and compares Italian disubbidienza and Spanish desobediencia;^[3] the Shorter Oxford calls it a Proto-Romance alteration of the Church Latin word.^[6] The Anglo-Norman desobedience is recorded from 1297.^[9] The Latin verb is the source of obey.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Refusal or neglect to obey: about 1400, in the Middle English Arthur, in a summons to come to Rome to answer for it.^[3][2] Etymonline dates the word to about 1400,^[4] and Merriam-Webster to the 15th century.^[8]

Semantic evolution

Lydgate used the word in the 15th century, of the discord and grumbling of the commons.^[2] From 1712, in Blackmore's Creation, it was also used of failing to comply with a law of nature or a similar influence.^[3] Johnson (1755) defined it as the violation of lawful commands or a breach of the duty owed to superiors, quoting The Merry Wives of Windsor.^[10] The phrase civil disobedience is recorded from 1579 for a rebellion of the people against those who govern them, and later for refusing to obey laws as an organized protest;^[3][6] Etymonline and Merriam-Webster date it to 1866, when it became the title of Thoreau's essay, first published in 1849 as "Resistance to Civil Government".^[4][8]

Timeline

• c. 1400 – refusal or neglect to obey.^[3][2][4]
• 1579 – civil disobedience, a rebellion of the people against a government.^[3]
• 1712 – non-compliance with a law of nature.^[3]
• 1866 – civil disobedience, as the title of Thoreau's essay.^[4][8]

Meanings

Noun

1. Failure or refusal to obey rules, orders or those in authority: The soldiers were punished for disobedience.^[11][8][3]
2. An act of disobeying.^[6][8]
3. Failure to conform to a law of nature or a similar influence.^[3]
4. civil disobedience: refusal to obey laws or government demands, usually nonviolent, as a form of protest.^[8][3][6]

Word family

• disobedient
• disobediently
• civil disobedience

Related words

• obedience
• obey
• disobey

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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ 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
7. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins