relativity

Etymology

It is formed from English relative + -ity,^[2][3][4][5] apparently coined by Coleridge.^[3] The OED compares the earlier French relativité (1805) and German Relativität (before 1805),^[2] and Merriam-Webster and Klein take the English word as probably from the French one, formed from relatif.^[6][7] Relative is from Old French relatif, from Late Latin relātīvus (“having reference or relation”), from relātus, used as the past participle of referō (“to bring back”).^[3][8] The phrase theory of relativity follows Relativitätstheorie, used of Einstein's theory by 1906, and the names of the special and general theories follow Einstein's spezielle Relativitätstheorie and allgemeine Relativitätstheorie of 1915.^[2] An older noun for the state of being relative was relativeness, from the 1670s.^[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The fact or condition of being relative: before 1834, in Coleridge's notes on Waterland's Vindication of Christ's Divinity, printed in his Literary Remains (1839).^[2][3] Dictionary.com dates the word 1825–35.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Coleridge's word was philosophical: existence only in relation to a thinking mind.^[3] The physical sense, the dependence of observations on the relative motion of observer and observed, is recorded from 1858,^[2] and Maxwell used the word in roughly this sense in 1876.^[3] It became tied to Albert Einstein's theories, the special theory published in 1905 and the general theory in 1915;^[3][9] Klein dates the scientific use to Einstein in 1905.^[7] From 1859 the word also meant a comparison or a relative position, chiefly in the plural.^[2] Since 1944 relativities have been differences in pay between firms or between groups of workers.^[2]

Timeline

• before 1834 – the condition of being relative, in Coleridge.^[2][3]
• 1858 – in physics, the dependence of observations on relative motion.^[2]
• 1859 – a comparison; a relative position or difference.^[2]
• 1905 – Einstein's special theory of relativity.^[3][7]
• 1915 – Einstein's general theory of relativity.^[3][2]
• 1944 – differences in pay between groups of workers.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The quality or state of being relative, that is, of depending on a relation to something else rather than being absolute: the relativity of wealth.^[6][4][2]
2. In philosophy, dependence on a variable factor such as a person's psychological, social or cultural setting; relativism.^[9][2]
3. In physics, either of Albert Einstein's two theories: the special theory, which holds that the laws of physics are the same for all observers in uniform relative motion and that the speed of light is constant, and the general theory, which extends it to accelerated motion and to gravitation.^[9][4][2]

Word family

• general relativity
• special relativity
• theory of relativity

Related words

• relative
• relatively
• relativeness
• relativize
• relativism
• relativist
• relativistic

References

1. ^ 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 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 Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins