limitation

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English limitacioun,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Anglo-Norman limitacioun and limitacion, recorded in Old French from 1304, at first of limiting a person's authority,^[5][6] and in part directly borrowed from Latin līmitātiō (“the fixing of boundaries”).^[5][6][7] The Latin noun is formed from līmitātus, the past participle of līmitō (“to bound, limit, fix”), and the suffix -iō;^[5][4][3] the verb comes from līmes (“boundary, limit”), the source of limit.^[6] In Anglo-Norman the word already meant a period fixed by a statute, from the end of the 13th century, and a limiting statement or provision, both often in legal use;^[5][8] in the Latin of medieval Britain it could also mean a district assigned for preaching.^[5] Compare Catalan limitació, Spanish limitación, Portuguese limitação and Italian limitazione.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

An allotted district, especially the area within which a limiter, a begging friar, was allowed to preach, hear confessions and beg: about 1405, in Chaucer's Wife of Bath's Tale.^[5][9] Etymonline dates the word to the late 14th century,^[6] and the Middle English Dictionary's first record, from about 1410 in Hoccleve, has the sense of a warrant or order.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

The early senses were concrete: an allotted space, a warrant or order (about 1410 to 1525), a limiting statement or provision (about 1475), and a boundary or border (before 1475, now rare).^[5][2] The general sense, the act of limiting something or a restriction, is recorded from 1483.^[5] Legal use came early: from 1527 the word named the period fixed by statute within which legal proceedings must be brought,^[5] and the phrase statute of limitations is attested by 1768;^[6] from 1592 it was also used of the period for which an estate or a law lasts.^[5] The abstract sense "the condition of being limited" appears in 1597, in Hooker,^[5] whom Johnson (1755) quoted for "restriction; circumscription".^[10] From 1732 a limitation was also a point in which a person's ability falls short, a sense now common in the plural.^[5][11] From 1833 it was used of the limiting of legal or financial responsibility, especially that of shareholders.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 1405 – an allotted district, especially a friar's.^[5][9]
• c. 1410 – a warrant or order (obsolete by 1525).^[5][2]
• c. 1475 – a limiting statement or provision.^[5]
• 1483 – the action of limiting; a restriction.^[5]
• 1527 – the period within which legal proceedings may be brought.^[5]
• 1597 – the condition of being limited.^[5]
• 1732 – a shortcoming or weakness.^[5]
• 1768 – statute of limitations.^[6]
• 1833 – the limiting of legal or financial liability.^[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The act of limiting, or the state of being limited: a limitation of imports.
2. A limiting rule or condition; a restriction: The licence carries strict limitations on noise.
3. A shortcoming or weakness, often in the plural: She knows her limitations as a singer.
4. (law) A period fixed by statute within which a lawsuit or prosecution must be started; see statute of limitations.
5. (property law) A restriction on the duration or extent of an estate.

Word family

• limitational
• nonlimitation
• statute of limitations

Related words

• limitative
• limit
• limiter

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 Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
9. ^ a b Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
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. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt