negotiation

Etymology

It is partly borrowed from Middle French négociation (“commercial activity”) and partly borrowed from Latin negōtiātiō (“business, trade, a commercial transaction”),^[2][3][4] a noun of action from negōtior (“to carry on business, trade”),^[3][5][6] itself from negōtium (“business, occupation, affair”).^[3][5][7] That noun is formed from neg- (“not”) and ōtium (“ease, leisure”), so that it literally meant "lack of leisure";^[3][5][8][9] the origin of ōtium is unknown.^[3][4] Barnhart suggests that negōtium may be a loan translation of Ancient Greek ἀσχολία (askholía, “occupation, business”), formed from the negative prefix and σχολή (skholḗ, “leisure”), the word behind school.^[4] The OED notes that the French noun meant commercial activity from 1323 and a discussion aimed at reaching agreement from 1544.^[2] The verb negotiate (1599) is probably a back-formation from the noun.^[4][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

An act of dealing with another person, a private or business transaction: before 1500, in the Speculum Sacerdotale.^[2][10] Barnhart and Etymonline date the form negociacion, a dealing with people, to about 1425.^[4][3]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline notes that the widening of the sense from doing business to bargaining about anything had already taken place in Latin.^[3] In English the early commercial senses, a business transaction and, from 1601, trade or commerce, are now obsolete.^[2][11] The modern sense, a discussion with another party meant to reach agreement, especially in affairs of state, is recorded from 1563,^[2][10] and Etymonline dates the meaning "mutual discussion and arrangement of the terms of an agreement" to the 1570s.^[3] Johnson (1755) defined the word simply as "treaty of business".^[12] The general action or process of negotiating is recorded from 1597 with a possessive, and without one from 1614.^[2] In 1878 Robert Louis Stevenson used it for getting over or past an obstacle by skilful manoeuvring,^[2] a sense that follows the verb negotiate, which in the hunting field meant to clear a hedge or fence on horseback.^[3][9]

Timeline

• c. 1425 – negociacion, a dealing with people.^[4][3]
• a1500 – an act of dealing with another person; a business transaction (now obsolete).^[2]
• 1563 – a discussion aimed at reaching an agreement, especially between states.^[2][10]
• 1597 – the process of negotiating, with a possessive.^[2]
• 1601 – trading, commerce (obsolete by 1788).^[2]
• 1878 – the getting past an obstacle by skilful manoeuvring.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A formal discussion between parties aimed at reaching an agreement, settlement or compromise, often in the plural: Negotiations between the two unions broke down in March.
2. The act or process of negotiating: The price is open to negotiation.
3. The skilful getting over, round or through an obstacle or difficult route.

Word family

• nonnegotiation
• prenegotiation
• pronegotiation

Related words

• negotiable
• negotiate
• otiose

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
9. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b c Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
11. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.