omnipotent

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English omnipotent,^[2][3] borrowed from Anglo-Norman omnipotent (“all-powerful (of God)”) and Middle French omnipotent,^[4][3] and directly their source, borrowed from Latin omnipotēns (“all-powerful, almighty”).^[4][5][6][7] The word is recorded in Old French from the early 12th century,^[4][8] where the Anglo-Norman Dictionary finds it in apposition to God and as a name for the Almighty;^[8] Etymonline dates the Old French word to the 11th century.^[5] The Latin adjective, also used as a noun by Christian writers from the Vetus Latina on,^[4] is formed from omnis (“all”) and potēns (“powerful”),^{[5][7][9][10]} the present participle of possum (“to be able”).^[9][11] Etymonline explains the verb as a contraction of potis (“powerful, able”) with sum (“to be”), from Proto-Indo-European *poti- (“powerful; lord”).^[5] The OED compares Italian onnipotente (about 1224), Spanish omnipotente (1220–50) and Portuguese omnipotente (13th century).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of God: almighty, having infinite power: about 1330, in the Auchinleck manuscript of Guy of Warwick.^[4] Barnhart dates the romance probably before 1300,^[6] and Etymonline gives the early 14th century.^[5]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English the word was used only of God,^[6][12] as in Chaucer.^[2] The general sense, all-powerful or having unlimited authority, is first recorded before 1522, in Gavin Douglas's translation of the Aeneid, in the revised OED;^[4] Etymonline dates it to the 1590s and Barnhart to Shakespeare's Merry Wives of Windsor (1598).^[5][6] In the same play Falstaff cries "oh omnipotent love!", a line Johnson (1755) quoted under the definition "almighty; powerful without limit".^[13] Shakespeare and his contemporaries also used it humorously for "utter, arrant", as in "the most omnipotent villain" (1596–1749).^[4][3] The noun, an all-powerful being and especially God as the Omnipotent, is recorded from 1562 in the OED and Merriam-Webster Unabridged;^[4][3] Barnhart has it from 1601.^[6] The noun omnipotence dates from before 1460.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 1330 – of God, almighty, having infinite power.^[4]
• before 1522 – generally, all-powerful; having unlimited authority or influence.^[4] Etymonline dates this sense to the 1590s.^[5]
• 1562 – noun, an omnipotent being; with the, God.^[4][3]
• 1596 – humorously, utter, arrant; huge (obsolete by 1749).^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Having unlimited power; almighty, especially as an attribute of God.^[3][11][4]
2. Having very great or virtually unlimited authority or influence: In the novel an omnipotent council rules every part of daily life.^[3][11][4]
3. (obsolete, 1596–1749) Utter, arrant.^[4][3]

Noun

1. the Omnipotent: God.^[11][3][4]
2. One who is omnipotent.^[3][4]

Word family

• omnipotence
• omnipotently
• unomnipotent

Related words

• potent
• omniscient
• omnipresent
• possible
• potential
• impotent

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Stratmann, Francis Henry (1891), A Middle-English Dictionary, revised by Henry Bradley, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
7. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
9. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
10. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
11. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
12. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.