Well, the modern libertarian movement actually got it from Ayn Rand, though the basic idea is older than Ayn Rand. I also got the idea from Ayn Rand. I'm not a libertarian.
> The use of the word "libertarian" to describe a set of political positions can be tracked to the French cognate, libertaire, which was coined in 1857 by French anarchist Joseph Déjacque who used the term to distinguish his libertarian communist approach from the mutualism advocated by Pierre-Joseph Proudhon.[26] Hence libertarian has been used by some as a synonym for anarchism since the 1890s
"Libertarianism" was originally an adjective used for the more anarchist-leaning socialists. It was later appropriated by right-leaning property fetishists.
The word libertarianism was originally used in the communist context, and was also called anarchism, and was opposed to authoritarian communism. It was later hijacked (in the US context) by property-worshipping followers of John Locke and the like.
He was the first guy to ever use the term libertarian; so from that point until the late 60's, libertarianism was something Rand was ostensibly against. Most libertarians today embrace the Randian critique of the libertarianism of her day.
In other words, the libertarianism of today is by and large anarcho-capitalism rebranded.
This is all true, but in 20th century America the term libertarian got re-applied to a right-wing, small or no government, free-market approach. Now days most Americans are completely unaware of the French anarchist usage of the word. The origins of this are mixed, but I think it's safe to say the Hayek/Friedman wing has roots in classical liberalism, for example Locke's theory of private property.
> The use of the word libertarian to describe a new set of political positions has been traced to the French cognate, libertaire, coined in a scathing letter French libertarian communist Joseph Déjacque wrote to mutualist Pierre-Joseph Proudhon in 1857, castigating him for his sexist political views.
And indeed, the first person to use libertarianism as the name of a political ideology, Joseph Dejacque, vigourously agreed with Proudhon on that, while he described Proudhon as "moderate anarchist, liberal, but not libertarian".
Rothbard coopted the term, which was then long established.
the term "Libertarianism" was leftist in the 19th century. Nowadays it refers to laisez-faire capitalism and the austrian school. Get on with the times people
Libertarianism was conceived by the anarcho-communist Joseph Dejacque, who first used the term to call Proudhon, the father of anarchism a mere 'moderate anarchist, liberal but not libertarian'.
For about a century libertarianism was exclusive a far left ideology including mostly anarchists and libertarian Marxists.
Libertarianism started out as a left-wing ideology akin to anarchism. It is only later that the term was highjacked to refer to free market fundamentalists on the right.
The term libertarian was redefined in the U.S. by activists wishing to continue the path toward individual liberty, but who could not use the term "liberal" because the definition of that term had been redefined in the U.S. to describe people desiring to move away from individual liberty.
I’ve seen people downvoted for highlighting that “libertarian” was a term invented in the context of anarchist and socialist struggle before being co-opted by the right, so I’m going to go with the latter...
The first person to use libertarianism as a term was an an anarchist: The French anarcho-communist Joseph Déjacque.
Libertarianism was strongly rooted on the far left for a long time - Lenins "Left Communism - An infantile Disorder" was aimed at libertarian Marxists, for example.
The "modern" right wing libertarianism is the new kid on the block.
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