pamphlet English · revision 207

5 Oct 2026, 22:17 by bogdan “Add pronunciation, sense history, timeline, word family, related words; definitions under Modern meaning” current version
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+ ==Pronunciation==
+ * IPA: /ˈpæmflɪt/, /-flət/ ''(UK)''; /ˈpæmflɪt/, /-flət/ ''(US)''^(Wiktionary)
+ 
  ==Etymology==
− From [[enm|pamflet]] (14th century),^(MW Collegiate)^(OED 1989) from Anglo-Latin ''panfletus'',^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) apparently a popular short name for ''Pamphilus, seu de Amore'' (“Pamphilus, or On Love”), a 12th-century Latin love poem widely copied in the Middle Ages.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)^(MW Collegiate) The name ''Pamphilus'' is from Greek ''pámphilos'' “loved by all”.^(AHD)^(Etymonline)
+ From [[enm|pamflet]],^(MW Collegiate)^(OED 1989) from Anglo-Latin ''panfletus'',^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) apparently a popular short name for ''Pamphilus, seu de Amore'' (“Pamphilus, or On Love”), a 12th-century Latin love poem widely copied in the Middle Ages.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)^(MW Collegiate) The name ''Pamphilus'' is from Greek ''pámphilos'' “loved by all”.^(AHD)^(Etymonline)
  
− The sense “short work on a question of current interest” dates from the late 16th century.^(Etymonline)
+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==
+ A short written work, a small book or tract (late 14th century; the OED's earliest quotation is from 1344).^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)
  
− ==Noun==
− '''pamphlet'''
+ ==Semantic evolution==
+ From about 1500 the word was used of printed works issued separately, and in later use always of unbound ones.^(OED 1989) The sense “short treatise on a question of current interest”, often a controversial one, dates from the late 16th century.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) The poem ''Pamphilus'' appears as ''Panflet'' in a Middle Dutch romance by Diderik van Assenede (c. 1250).^(OED 1989)
  
+ ==Timeline==
+ * 1344 – a small treatise.^(OED 1989)
+ * c. 1500 – printed and issued as a separate work.^(OED 1989)
+ * 1592 – a treatise on a topical question; verb, “to describe in a pamphlet”.^(OED 1989)
+ 
+ ==Modern meaning==
+ ===Noun===
  # A small unbound printed work, usually with a paper cover.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)
  # A short essay or tract on a topic of current interest, often a controversial one.^(AHD)^(OED 1989)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)
  
− ==Verb==
− '''pamphlet'''
− 
+ ===Verb===
  # To write pamphlets.^(OED 1989)^(Wiktionary)
  # To describe something in a pamphlet, or to hand out pamphlets.^(OED 1989)^(Wiktionary)
  
+ ==Word family==
+ * [[pamphletary]]
+ * [[pamphleteer]]
+ * [[pamphletize]]
+ 
  ==References==
  {{reflist}}