inviolable

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English inviolable,^[2] borrowed from Latin inviolābilis (“inviolable, invulnerable”)^[3][2][4][5] alternatively borrowed from Middle French inviolable,^[3][6][7] a French word the OED records from the 14th century.^[3] The American Heritage Dictionary, Barnhart and Merriam-Webster Unabridged trace the French word to the Latin one.^[8][7][6] The Latin adjective is formed from in- (“not”) and violābilis (“that may be injured, easily wounded”),^[3][4][9] from violō (“to do violence to”).^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Not to be violated: about 1443, in Pecock's Rule, of an observance.^[2][7] Etymonline dates it to the mid-15th century, and the OED, which has no Middle English quotation, to 1530.^[4][3]

Semantic evolution

The word first described what must be kept unbroken, and the Rolls of Parliament of 1461 use it too.^[2] A stronger use in the 16th century was what cannot be violated, cannot be broken, forced or injured, in Palsgrave's Lesclarcissement of 1530; this died out after 1719.^[3][10] Etymonline dates this sense to the 1520s.^[4] The sense of what must not be violated, the modern one, spread from laws, treaties and principles (1532, in More)^[3] to persons and places, immune from attack (1578, in Nicholas's translation of López de Gómara).^[3][4] Johnson (1755) defines it as not to be profaned or injured, and quotes Milton's Paradise Lost of a place kept inviolable.^[11]

Timeline

• c. 1443 – not to be violated, of an observance.^[2][7]
• 1530 – that cannot be broken, forced or injured (obsolete after 1719).^[3][10]
• 1532 – of laws, institutions and principles, to be kept sacred.^[3]
• 1578 – of persons and places, secure from attack.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. That must not be broken, infringed or dishonoured; sacrosanct: She held her promise to be inviolable.^[12][6][3]
2. Secure from assault or trespass; unassailable: The embassy grounds were treated as inviolable.^[6][8][3]
3. (obsolete, 1530–1719) Incapable of being broken, forced or injured; indestructible.^[3][6][10]

Word family

• inviolability
• inviolably
• inviolableness

Related words

• violate
• violable
• violation
• inviolate

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
8. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
10. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins