oblige

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English obligen, also oblegen,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Anglo-Norman obliger, also oblijer, and obligier,^[5][3][4] from Latin obligō (“to bind by an oath or promise”),^[5][6][3] formed from ob- (“to, towards”) and ligō (“to bind, tie”),^[6][3][7] from Proto-Indo-European *leig- (“to tie, bind”).^[6][3] In Latin the literal sense "to bind up, bandage" had already been extended to "to put under an obligation".^[3][7] The French verb meant to bind by oath or promise from the mid-13th century, and to do a service or give pleasure from 1538.^[5] Obligate and obligatory come from the past participle stem of the same Latin verb,^[7] and liable and ligament from its root.^[7][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

To bind a person by oath, promise or contract: before 1325, in the Statutes of the Realm.^[5] Barnhart dates oblegen probably to about 1280 and obligen to about 1300.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English the verb was legal and moral: to bind someone by oath, to pledge property as security, and to make someone liable to a penalty.^[5][8] To be obliged, to be bound or compelled, is recorded from 1398,^[5] and Hoad dates the sense "to constrain" to the 17th century.^[9] The main modern sense, to make someone indebted by doing him a favour, appeared in the 1560s,^[3][8] after French had developed the same sense in 1538;^[5] from it come obliged, grateful, and obliging, helpful (1632).^[9][2] Johnson (1755) gave first the sense "to bind, to compel".^[10] Weekley recalls that old-fashioned speakers still pronounced it obleege within living memory.^[11]

Timeline

• before 1325 – to bind a person by oath, promise or contract.^[5]
• c. 1325 – to pledge property as security (obsolete by 1750).^[5]
• 1340 – to make liable to a penalty (obsolete).^[5]
• 1398 – to be obliged, to be bound or compelled.^[5]
• 1560s – to make indebted by doing a favour.^[3][8]
• 1632 – obliging, helpful, accommodating.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To bind or compel someone, by law, duty or circumstance, to do something: The contract obliges the tenant to repair any damage.^[12][13][5]
2. To do a favour or service for someone: He obliged the visitors by showing them the garden.^[12][13][8]
3. be obliged: to be grateful or indebted to someone: We are much obliged to you for the lift.^[12][13][8]
4. (obsolete, 1325–1750) To pledge or mortgage property as security.^[5][8]

Word family

• obliger
• obligedness
• reoblige
• disoblige

Related words

• liable
• noblesse oblige
• obligate
• obligation
• obligatory
• obligee
• obligor
• rely
• ligament
• ligature
• ally
• obbligato

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ a b c d Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
8. ^ 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
9. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
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. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
12. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
13. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster