'self-responsiveness' originates from English, specifically the compound 'self' + 'responsiveness', where 'self' meant 'the person or thing itself' and 'responsiveness' derives from 'response' meaning 'an answer or reaction'.

'responsiveness' changed from Old French/Anglo-Norman forms related to 'response' and ultimately from Latin 'respondēre' ('re-' + 'spondēre'), and in modern English combined with 'self' to form the compound 'self-responsiveness'.

Initially the elements meant 'the thing itself' and 'an answer or reaction'; over time the compound has come to denote specifically the capacity to respond independently or automatically.