also noncompliance, "failure or refusal to comply," 1680s, from non- + compliance. Related: Noncompliant.
early 15c., obstinaunce, "non-compliance, self-willed persistence," from Medieval Latin obstinantia, from obstinatus "resolved, determined, resolute" (see obstinate). Earlier was obstinacioun "determination, resolution" (mid-14c.), from Old French.
late 14c., obsequi, in plural, "funeral rites, a funeral," from Anglo-French obsequie, Old French obseque, osseque "funeral rites" and directly from Medieval Latin obsequiae, influenced in sense by confusion of Latin obsequium "compliance" (see obsequious) with exsequiae "funeral rites." Typically in plural, obsequies.
late 15c., "prompt to serve, meekly compliant with the will or wishes of another, dutiful," from Latin obsequiosus "compliant, obedient," from obsequium "compliance, dutiful service," from obsequi "to accommodate oneself to the will of another," from ob "after" (see ob-) + sequi "to follow" (from PIE root *sekw- (1) "to follow"). Pejorative sense of "fawning, sycophantic, unduly compliant" had emerged by 1590s. Related: Obsequiously; obsequiousness (mid-15c.).
c. 1200, "the practice or virtue of submission to a higher power or authority;" late 14c., "dutiful compliance with a command or law," from Old French obedience "obedience, submission" (12c.), from Latin oboedientia "obedience," abstract noun from oboedientem (nominative oboediens) "obedient, compliant," present participle of oboedire "to obey" (see obey). In reference to dog training from 1930.
It has been a constant remark, that free countries have ever paid the heaviest taxes. The obedience of a free people to general laws, however hard they bear, is ever more perfect than that of slaves to the arbitrary will of a prince. [Alexander Hamilton to James Duane, Sept. 3, 1780]
