Etymologically
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disobedience

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /dɪs.əˈbiː.dɪəns/[1]

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

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