Etymologically
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obedience

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ə(ʊ)ˈbiːdɪəns/[1]
  • US: /oʊˈbidiəns/, /əˈbidiəns/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English obedience, also obediens and obediaunce,[2] borrowed from Anglo-Norman obedience, also obediance, and Old French obedience (French obédience),[3][4][5] from Latin oboedientia (“the action or practice of obeying”), also spelled obēdientia.[3][6][7] The Anglo-Norman word is recorded from 1155, with the senses of submission, homage, authority and a sphere of rule.[8] The Latin noun is formed from oboediēns (“obedient”), the present participle of oboediō (“to obey”),[4][7][9] a compound of ob (“to”) and audiō (“to hear, listen”).[4] It is a doublet of obeisance.[6] The Latin word also gave Italian ubbidienza, Spanish obediencia and Portuguese obediência.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The action or practice of obeying, submission to a higher authority, and also the fact of being obeyed, authority: both before 1225, in Vices and Virtues.[3][2] Etymonline dates the word to about 1200,[4] and Dictionary.com to 1150–1200.[10]

Semantic evolution

The religious senses came early: the vow of submission taken by a member of a religious order is recorded in the Ancrene Riwle (before 1225), and an office or duty in a religious house from 1481, following senses that post-classical Latin obedientia had in monasteries since the 6th century.[3] The sense of homage or a respectful gesture, a bow or curtsy, appears in Scots about 1390;[3] it survived in English dialect into the 19th century, when people from Scotland to Kent and Hampshire would make their obedience to the parson or to a lady.[11][5] The general sense "dutiful compliance with a command or law" is dated by Etymonline to the late 14th century,[4] while before 1500 the word was already used of yielding to a physical force, as in the phrase in obedience to.[3] A sphere of authority or the body of people under it, especially in the Church, is recorded from 1595.[3] Chaucer used the word four times and Gower three.[12] Johnson (1755) defined it as submission to authority and compliance with a command or prohibition.[13] The use in dog training dates from 1930.[4][5]

Timeline

  • 1155 – Anglo-Norman obedience.[8]
  • a1225 – the practice of obeying; also authority, jurisdiction.[3]
  • ?c1225 – the vow of obedience of a member of a religious order, in the Ancrene Riwle.[3]
  • c1390 – homage; a bow or curtsy.[3]
  • a1500 – yielding to a force, in obedience to.[3]
  • 1481 – an office or duty in a religious house.[3]
  • 1595 – a sphere of authority; a body of people subject to a rule.[3]
  • 1930 – dog training.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The act or practice of obeying; the quality or state of being obedient; compliance with authority: The recruits were trained in strict obedience to orders.[14][7][3]
  2. in obedience to: in accordance with, or moved by: The gate swung shut in obedience to the wind.[5][3]
  3. Authority or jurisdiction, now chiefly that of a church over its members.[7][14][3]
  4. A sphere of authority, or the body of people subject to it, especially in a church.[7][14][3]
  5. The vow of submission to a superior taken by a member of a religious order.[3]
  6. The training of a dog to obey commands, as in an obedience class or obedience trial.[5][4]
  7. (archaic or dialect) A bow or curtsy, as in to make one's obedience.[7][5][11]

Word family

  • nonobedience
  • overobedience
  • superobedience

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b 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 p q r s 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 d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  7. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  8. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  9. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  10. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  11. ^ a b Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
  12. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
  13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  14. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins