The Origins of the Word, “Volunteer”

The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ASPA as an organization.

By Benjamin Paley
February 22, 2020

The origins of words inform us of their implications today. When you understand where a word has come from and its changes over time, you can put into perspective the actual meaning of the word today.

The origins of words can also help us see where words are going. How are the words we are using today going to be used in 10 or 20 years? This phenomenon is being seen today with the prevalence of gender neutral pronouns.

Words have meaning beyond their definition. Words have a history. Words have been formed over the course of human history across a variety of civilizations and cultures.

Volunteering, and the words that go along with volunteering, have a history that informs today’s volunteers of the importance of the work they are doing.

When people think of volunteers, they think of people taking time out of their day to help their community. Merriam-Webster defines a volunteer as, “A person who voluntarily undertakes or expresses a willingness to undertake a service: such as… one who enters into military service voluntarily… one who renders a service or takes part in a transaction while having no legal concern or interest… [or] one who receives a conveyance or transfer of property without giving valuable consideration.”

The Cambridge Dictionary defines volunteering as an, “Offer to do something that you do not have to do, often without having been asked to do it and/or without expecting payment.”

But where do these definitions of volunteer originate from?

As you can guess, there is a myriad of information out there on the origins of terms related to volunteering.

The word volunteer comes from the Latin word voluntarius, meaning willing or of one’s own choice. This latin verb originated from the Latin noun voluntas, meaning will or desire.

The first english language use of the word, “Volunteer,” was in a poem titled, “Of Arthour & of Merlin,” which originated around 1330. There, the use of the word was from the Latin noun meaning, “Will,” or, “Desire.” The section of the poem that used the word said, in modern English, “The aforementioned devil sought after and of that woman made a possessed person who would do his will entirely.”

By the early sixteenth century, the use of the Latin noun faded away to make way for the English word, “Will.”

The root of the Latin noun was kept and used to form other words.

According to Wordorigins.org, “One of these uses is the adjective voluntary, also borrowed from the Old French voluntaire, which is first recorded in Lanfranc’s Science of Cirurgie (surgery), in a manuscript copied sometime before 1400.”

The modern use of the noun “volunteer,” does not appear until the 1600s. According to Wordorigins.org, “[T]his noun originally had a military connotation.”

This noun form still made reference to the original Latin noun meaning, “Will.”

By 1648, Thomas Gage wrote in his book, “The English-American His Travail by Sea and Land,” of the non-military use of the noun, “Volunteer,” to refer to someone who went on religious missions.

Up until the mid-nineteenth century, most dictionaries defined the noun, “Volunteer,” in its military connotation. Today, of course, the noun has non-military connotations.

As can be seen, the noun, “Volunteer,” has a long history of use. I think that the original Latin noun, meaning will or desire, still has meaning even in today’s uses of the word volunteer. It is out of the will or desire of the individual volunteering that many of the important community projects and events occur, especially in the public administration context. The history of volunteering in the United States goes back to the founding of the first volunteer fire station by Benjamin Franklin in the 1700s.

Since then, volunteers have played an important role in American society. And they still play an important role today.

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Author: Benjamin Paley is a board member of the South Florida Chapter of the ASPA. He graduated in 2018 from Florida Atlantic University with a Master of Public Administration degree. He currently studies law at Nova Southeastern University. Email: [email protected].

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