tyranny

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English tirannie,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Old French tyrannie,^{[5][6][7][8][9]} from Late Latin tyrannia,^{[6][2][9][10]} called Medieval Latin by Klein, Merriam-Webster and Dictionary.com,^[7][11][12] from Ancient Greek τυραννία (turannía, “rule of a tyrant, absolute power”),^[2][6][7] from τύραννος (túrannos, “lord, master, tyrant”), the source of tyrant.^[2][6][7][5] The Anglo-Norman word is recorded from 1155 for the cruel rule of a despot.^[13] The Greek túrannos is probably itself a borrowing, according to Etymonline from a language of Asia Minor, probably Lydian.^[2][14]

Earliest recorded meaning

Arbitrary or oppressive use of power: about 1368, in Chaucer's Complaint unto Pity;^[5] Etymonline dates the word to the late 14th century.^[2] Chaucer used it 15 times and Gower 21 times.^[4]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English the word named both the rule of a tyrant in the ancient sense (c. 1374, in Chaucer's Anelida and Arcite) and the cruel or unjust use of power.^[5][2] In Greek a túrannos was any ruler who took power without a legal right, even a mild and popular one;^[2] the English sense "tyrannical government, a lawless autocracy" applied to modern states dates from about 1600.^[2] Bacon used a tyranny for a state under such rule in 1605, and Hobbes the word for absolute sovereignty in general in 1651.^[5] A sense "violence, outrage" (from 1475) is now obsolete or archaic.^[5][10] Johnson (1755) gave "absolute monarchy imperiously administered" first.^[15] In West Yorkshire dialect a tyranny was a tyrant: "she's a complete tyranny in the house".^[16] A verb tyranny, to tyrannize, was recorded once, in 1650.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 1368 – arbitrary or oppressive use of power, in Chaucer.^[5]
• c. 1374 – the rule of a tyrant or absolute ruler.^[5]
• c. 1385 – oppressive or unjustly severe government.^[5]
• 1475 – violent or lawless action (now obsolete or archaic).^[5]
• 1605 – a state ruled by a tyrant.^[5]
• 1651 – absolute sovereignty in general.^[5]
• 1755 – Johnson's "absolute monarchy imperiously administered".^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. Government by a tyrant or absolute ruler; despotism.^[17][11][5]
2. Cruel, oppressive and unjust government, by one ruler or by a group.^[17][11][10]
3. Arbitrary or oppressive use of power or authority over others; an act of this kind: the tyranny of a strict headmaster.^[17][11][5]
4. A harsh controlling force or condition: the tyranny of deadlines.^[17][10]
5. A state or city under such rule, especially in ancient Greece.^[17][11][10]
6. (obsolete or archaic, from 1475) Violent or lawless action.^[5][10]

Word family

• tyrannise
• tyrannize
• tyrannical

Related words

• tyrant

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ 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)
4. ^ a b Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ a b c d Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ Stratmann, Francis Henry (1891), A Middle-English Dictionary, revised by Henry Bradley, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ 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
11. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
12. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
13. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
14. ^ Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
15. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
16. ^ 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)
17. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins