autonomy

noun

Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂ewder.? Proto-Indo-European *sóder.? Proto-Indo-European *h₂ewder. Ancient Greek αὖ (aû) Ancient Greek τόν (tón)? Ancient Greek αὐτός (autós) Ancient Greek αὐτο- (auto-) Proto-Indo-European *nem-der. Proto-Indo-European *németi Proto-Hellenic *némō Ancient Greek νέμω (némō) Proto-Indo-European *-os Proto-Hellenic *-os Ancient Greek -ος (-os) Ancient Greek νόμος (nómos) ▲ Proto-Hellenic *-os Ancient Greek -ος (-os) Ancient Greek αὐτόνομος (autónomos) Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-i-eh₂ Proto-Hellenic *-íā Ancient Greek -ῐ́ᾱ (-ĭ́ā) Ancient Greek αὐτονομῐ́ᾱ (autonomĭ́ā)bor. English autonomy Borrowed from Ancient Greek αὐτονομῐ́ᾱ (autonomĭ́ā, “freedom to use its own laws, independence”), from αὐτόνομος (autónomos, “living under one's own laws, independent”) + -ῐ́ᾱ (-ĭ́ā, “-y, -ia”, nominal suffix). By surface analysis, auto- (“self”) + -nomy (“a system of rules or laws about a particular field”).

1. The right or condition of self-government; freedom to act or function independently.

   “But while assiduously dismissing any though of its own autonomy and proclaiming its victims its judges, it outdoes, in its veiled autocracy, all the excesses of autonomous art.”

   “Financial independence and micro retirement have come to represent the autonomy I've created for myself, which is a powerful feeling.”

2. A self-governing country or region.
3. The capacity to make an informed, uncoerced decision.
4. The capacity of a system to make a decision about its actions without the involvement of another system or operator.

   “...[T]he fact that a scientific theory finds applications to a wide variety of different phenomena does not imply anything about the autonomy of this theory from deeper physical laws.”

5. The status of a church whose highest-ranking bishop is appointed by the patriarch of the mother church, but which is self-governing in all other respects. Compare autocephaly.