in civil law, "transfer title of ownership to another," 1550s, from Latin abalienatus, past participle of abalienare "to remove, separate, alienate, make formal transfer of," literally "to convey away," from ab "off, away from" (see ab-) + alienare "to separate" (from alius "another, other, different," from PIE root *l- "beyond"). Related: Abalienated; abalienating.