anthology

Etymology

It is partly borrowed from Middle French anthologie (1574) and partly borrowed from New Latin anthologia (“collection of poems”) (recorded by 1536), the source of the French word,^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} from Ancient Greek ἀνθολογία (anthología, “a gathering of flowers”),^[2][7][8][9] from ἀνθολόγος (anthológos, “gathering flowers”),^[8][10] from ἄνθος (ánthos, “flower”) and λέγω (légō, “to gather”).^{[8][7][11][12]} The earliest sense, a breviary of the Greek Church, is instead from Koine Greek ἀνθολόγιον (anthológion, “gathering of flowers”), which meant a collection of extracts in Byzantine Greek and a hymnal in medieval Greek;^[2] the OED compares anthologe (1704) and anthologion (1555).^[2] The sense "treatise on flowers" was formed in English from antho- and -logy.^[2] Barnhart thinks the English word was taken from the Greek, perhaps under the influence of the French,^[13] and Merriam-Webster relates the Greek word for flower to a Sanskrit word for a herb or the soma plant and perhaps to Albanian ënde (“blossom”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A breviary, especially one of the Greek Orthodox Church: 1621, in S. Ward's Life of Faith.^[2] The literary sense, a collection of choice epigrams or short poems by several authors, follows in 1624.^[2] Etymonline dates the word to the 1630s,^[7] Barnhart to 1640,^[13] and the Shorter Oxford to the mid-17th century.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The Greek word, literally "flower-gathering", was used for a collection of the "flowers" of verse, small choice poems or epigrams by various writers, and Etymonline places this metaphorical sense in Late Greek.^[7][14][15] Montaigne used the same image in 1580, saying that he had only gathered other men's flowers and supplied the string that tied them.^[15] In English the poetic sense was soon widened: from 1647 to any published collection of writings, later of pictures and other works,^[2][3] from 1846 to any group of the best examples of something,^[2] and in 1950 to an album of recordings by various artists or from across one artist's work.^[2] Johnson (1755) gave the senses "a collection of flowers", "a collection of devotions in the Greek church" and "a collection of poems";^[12] the first (1755–1856, first recorded in Johnson) and the church breviary (to 1775) are now obsolete.^[2] A botanical sense, a treatise on flowers or the study of their structure, lasted from 1658 to 1911.^[2] The verb anthologize is recorded from 1892.^[13]

Timeline

• 1621 – a breviary of the Greek Church (obsolete by 1775).^[2]
• 1624 – a collection of choice short poems by various authors.^[2]
• 1647 – any published collection of writings.^[2]
• 1658 – a treatise on flowers (obsolete by 1911).^[2]
• 1755 – Johnson: a collection of flowers.^[12][2]
• 1846 – a grouping of the best examples of something.^[2]
• 1892 – the verb anthologize.^[13]
• 1950 – a collection of recordings issued as one album or set.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A collection of selected literary pieces, especially poems, by various authors: an anthology of war poetry.^[6][5][2]
2. A collection of selected works in another art, such as songs, recordings or paintings, often issued as one album or set.^[6][5][2]
3. A group of related things that shows the best or most typical of their kind.^[2]
4. (obsolete, 1621–1775) A breviary or book of devotions of the Greek Orthodox Church.^[2][12]
5. (obsolete, 1755–1856) A collection of flowers.^[2][12]

Word family

• anthological
• anthologically
• anthologist
• anthologize

Related words

• anther
• antho-
• -logy
• legend

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
7. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
10. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
11. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
12. ^ a b c d e Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
13. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
14. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
15. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press