Etymology: autonomy

From the Greek autonomia, meaning “independence,” and autonomos, meaning “living by one’s own laws.”  From the very ancient Greek word, auto- meaning “self, one’s own, by oneself, of oneself.”  You will recognize this word-forming element at the front of words like automobile, autonomic, and autopsy, which literally means “self sees,” and means, “to see with one’s own eyes.”

The second part is nomos, meaning “law or custom.”  Nomos comes from a very old PIE root, *nem- meaning “assign, allot, or take.”

Here is an example of the word autonomy as used in a sentence:

The right to bodily autonomy is protected by the United States Constitution under the 14th Amendment, which states that “No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”

Just something to think about.