prohibition

Etymology

It is partly borrowed from Anglo-Norman prohibicion, also spelled prohibicioun, and Middle French prohibition, and partly a direct borrowing of Latin prohibitiō (“a hindering, prevention; a legal ban”).^[2][3][4][5] In Old French the word is recorded from 1237,^[2] and Etymonline dates it to the early 13th century.^[3] The Anglo-Norman Dictionary finds it from 1260 in the senses "forbidding" and "writ forbidding a court to proceed".^[6] The Latin noun is formed on the past participle stem of prohibeō (“to hold back, restrain, prevent”),^[3][2][7][8] from prō (“away, forth”) and habeō (“to hold”),^[3] which Etymonline traces to Proto-Indo-European *gʰeh₁bʰ- (“to give or receive”).^[3] The OED compares prohibició (13th century), prohibición (14th century) and proibizione (1375).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

In medical texts, the prevention or arresting of a physical process: from about 1425, a sense obsolete after 1543.^[2][9] The general sense, the act of forbidding, or an order that forbids something, follows in 1429 in the proceedings of the Privy Council;^[2] Etymonline dates the word to the late 14th century.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The legal sense, a writ from a superior court forbidding a lower court to proceed with a case, is recorded from about 1435,^[2] and Anglo-Norman already had it in the 14th century.^[2][6] From the 1640s the word was used of a ban on trading in or importing a particular commodity.^[2] Johnson (1755) defined it simply as forbiddance, an interdict, quoting Shakespeare's Cymbeline.^[10] The best-known modern sense, the legal ban on making and selling alcoholic drink, is American: the OED's first quotation is from 1843,^[2] and Etymonline dates it to 1851.^[3] The national Prohibition party was founded in the United States in 1869,^[3] and the ban was in force nationwide from 1920 to 1933;^[3][11] that period is called Prohibition with a capital.^[11] In astrology, the word named the cancelling of one aspect's effect by another (1647), a sense now rare.^[2]

Timeline

• ?a1425 – in medicine, the prevention of a process (obsolete).^[2]
• 1429 – the act of forbidding; an order that forbids.^[2]
• ?1435 – (law) a writ forbidding a lower court to proceed.^[2]
• a1641 – a ban on trade in a commodity.^[2]
• 1647 – (astrology) the cancelling of one aspect by another.^[2]
• 1843 – a legal ban on alcoholic drink;^[2] 1851 in Etymonline.^[3]
• 1920–1933 – Prohibition in force in the United States.^[3][11]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The act of forbidding something, or the state of being forbidden: the prohibition of smoking in restaurants.
2. An order, law or decree that forbids something: a prohibition on fishing during the spawning season.
3. A legal ban on making, selling and transporting alcoholic drinks; Prohibition, the period from 1920 to 1933 when such a ban was in force in the United States.
4. (law) A writ or order from a higher court forbidding a lower court to go on with a case.

Word family

• prohibitionary
• antiprohibition
• nonprohibition
• prohibitionist
• writ of prohibition

Related words

• prohibit
• inhibit
• exhibit
• habit
• ban
• veto

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 m n o p q 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. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ 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)
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. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins