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literature

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 15 October 2026 at 21:19. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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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
  • 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