novel

The adjective “new, unusual” and the noun “long work of fiction” both go back to Latin novellus “new”, but reached English separately, the adjective through French and the noun through Italian.^[1][2][3]

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈnɒv.əl/, US /ˈnɑː.vəl/^[4]

novel¹ long work of fiction

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian novella (“short story, tale; news”),^[5][1] originally novella storia “new story”,^[6][7] from Latin novella (“new things”), the neuter plural or feminine of novellus (“new, young, recent”),^[5][1] a diminutive of novus (“new”),^[5][1] from the same root as new.^[5][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

One of the tales in a collection such as Boccaccio's Decameron: 1566,^[1][9] the 1560s in Etymonline.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The modern sense, a long fictitious prose narrative, is from 1639,^[1][9][3] or the 1630s,^[5][2] for a kind of work earlier called a romance;^[5] at first novels were contrasted with romances as shorter and closer to real life.^[2] The novel as a literary genre is from 1757.^[9] Earlier, from the mid-15th century, a novel (from Old French novelle) was a novelty, and in the plural news or tidings, senses now obsolete.^[5][9][7] Novelist is from 1728, probably influenced by Italian novellista,^[1] and novelette from 1814;^[1] novella was borrowed again in 1902, for a short novel.^[1]

Timeline

• mid-15th century – a novelty; news.^[5]
• 1566 – a tale in a collection.^[1][9]
• 1639 – a long prose fiction.^[1][9]
• 1728 – novelist.^[1]
• 1757 – the genre.^[9]
• 1902 – novella.^[1]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A long fictional prose narrative, usually with a plot unfolded through the actions, speech and thoughts of its characters.
2. The literary genre of such works.

Word family

• novelist
• novelette
• novelize
• novella

novel² new, unusual

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English novel,^[1][3] borrowed from Middle French novel (“new, fresh, recent”), from Old French novel, nouvel (modern French nouveau, feminine nouvelle),^[5][1][10] from Latin novellus (“new, young, recent”),^[5][1] a diminutive of novus (“new”).^[5][1][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

“New, young, fresh”: about 1420 in the OED,^[9] about 1450 in Barnhart,^[1] the mid-15th century in Etymonline.^[5] Barnhart also has it in a legal phrase from 1405.^[1]

Semantic evolution

It was little used before 1600.^[5] “Of a new kind, strange, hitherto unknown” is from about 1475,^[9] and its first sense in Word Origins is “recent”.^[2] Novelty, newness, innovation, is from about 1384, in the Wycliffe Bible.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 1384 – novelty.^[1]
• c. 1420 – new, young.^[9]
• c. 1475 – of a new kind.^[9]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Strikingly new, unusual or different: a novel idea.

Word family

• novelty

Related words

• nova
• new
• novice
• innovate
• renovate
• nouveau

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
2. ^ a b c d Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press