αὐτονομία

Forms

αὐτονομῐ́ᾱ (autonomíā) f (genitive αὐτονομῐ́ᾱς); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek αὐτόνομος (autónomos, “living by one's own laws”) + -ία (-íā), the adjective being a compound of αὐτο- (auto-, “self”) and νόμος (nómos, “law, custom”).^[1][2] The New Pauly suggests that the word may have been coined for the freedom of the members of a league under a leading city, such as the Delian League.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Thucydides, of a state's freedom to live under its own laws.^[4][5][6]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Greek it was a political word: the independence of a city in its own affairs, which Thucydides, Xenophon and Isocrates discuss and which inscriptions of the 4th century BC pair with ἐλευθερία (eleuthería), “freedom”.^[4][5][7][3] Isocrates also used it of personal independence, and disapprovingly of the licence of Spartan youths.^[7][5] Later writers stretched it: Himerius speaks of poetic licence, and Olympiodorus uses it for a dogmatic refusal to accept other views.^[4][5]

English borrowed it as autonomy in the 1620s, of states, and applied it to persons from 1803.^[2] Medieval Greek kept it for “independence”.^[8] In Modern Greek αυτονομία (aftonomía) is a learned word for the right of a group or region to make its own laws, and generally for freedom from outside influence.^[9] Triantafyllidis traces the modern sense to French autonomie.^[9]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – Thucydides uses it of a state's independence.^[4][5]
• 5th–4th century BC – Isocrates uses it of political and of personal independence.^[7][5]
• 2nd century BC – Polybius uses it of the self-government of cities.^[5]
• 4th century AD – Himerius speaks of poetic licence.^[4][5]
• 6th century AD – Olympiodorus uses it for dogmatism.^[4][5]
• 1620s – English borrows it as autonomy.^[2]
• Modern Greek – It is a learned word for political and personal autonomy.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. Of a state, the freedom to live under its own laws; independence, self-government.^[4][7][5]
2. Independence in behaviour; disapprovingly, licence.^[7][5]
3. (late) Poetic licence.^[4][5]
4. (late, philosophy) Dogmatism, an unwillingness to admit other views.^[4][5]

Related words

• αὐτονομέομαι (autonoméomai)
• αὐτόνομος (autónomos)
• English autonomy

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b Cancik, Hubert; Schneider, Helmuth, eds. (2002–2010), Brill's New Pauly: Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World, Leiden: Brill
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
6. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
7. ^ a b c d e Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
8. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
9. ^ a b c Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki