literature

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈlɪt.rə.tʃə/, US /ˈlɪt̬.ɚ.ə.tʃɚ/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English litterature,^[2][3] partly through Middle French littérature^[2][4] and directly borrowed from Latin litterātūra (“writing, grammar, learning”), literātūra,^[5][2] originally “writing formed with letters”,^[5] from littera (“letter of the alphabet; a writing; learning”),^[5][2] the source of letter, with the suffix -ūra.^[2][3] The same Latin word gave Spanish literatura, Italian letteratura and German Literatur.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Book learning, acquaintance with books: about 1375 in the OED,^[6] probably before 1425 in a translation of Higden's Polychronicon according to Barnhart,^[2] the early 15th century in Etymonline.^[5] In this sense it replaced Old English bōccræft.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The activity or profession of a writer is attested by 1779, in Johnson's Lives of the English Poets.^[5][6] The body of writings of a country or period emerged late, in French in 1782 and in English in 1812, in Humphry Davy's Elements of Chemical Philosophy.^[2][5][6] The whole of the writing on a particular subject is from 1860,^[5][6][2] and printed matter of any kind, as leaflets, is colloquial from 1895.^[5][6]

Timeline

• c. 1375 – book learning.^[6]
• 1779 – the profession of letters.^[5][6]
• 1812 – a body of writings.^[2][6]
• 1860 – writings on a subject.^[5][6]
• 1895 – printed matter.^[5][6]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A body of writings in prose or verse, especially of a language, period or people.
2. Imaginative or creative writing, especially of recognized artistic value.
3. The art or occupation of a literary writer.
4. The body of written work on a subject: the medical literature.
5. Printed material, such as leaflets or brochures.

Word family

• preliterature
• subliterature
• comparative literature

Related words

• letter
• literal
• literacy
• literate
• literary
• alliteration

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press