Online Etymology Dictionary

poet: c.1300, from O.Fr. poete (12c.), from L. poeta "poet, author," from Gk. poetes "maker, author, poet," from poein "to make or compose," from PIE *kwoiwo- "making," from base *qwei- "to make" (cf. Skt. cinoti "heaping up, piling up," O.C.S. cinu "act, deed, order"). Replaced O.E. scop (which survives in scoff). Used in 14c., as in classical langs., for all sorts of writers or composers of works of literature.
poetaster: 1599, from M.Fr. poetastre (1554), from L. poeta (poet) + -aster, diminutive (pejorative) suffix.
poetic: 1530, from M.Fr. poetique, from L. poeticus, from Gk. poietikos "pertaining to poetry," lit. "creative, productive," from poietos "made," verbal adj. of poiein "to make" (see poet). Poetic justice "ideal justice as portrayed in plays and stories" is from 1679.
poetry: late 14c., from O.Fr. poetrie (13c.), from M.L. poetria (c.650), from L. poeta (see poet). In classical Latin, poetria meant "poetess." English lacks a true verb form in this group of words, though poeticize (1804), poetize (1580s, from Fr. poétiser), and poetrize (c.1600) all have been tried.
vates: 1620s, "poet or bard," specifically "Celtic divinely inspired poet" (1728), from L. vates "sooth-sayer, prophet, seer," cognate with O.Ir. faith "poet," Welsh gwawd "poem," O.E. wod "mad, frenzied" (see wood (adj.)). Hence vaticination "oracular prediction" (c.1600).
skald: 1763, "Scandinavian poet and singer of medieval times," from O.N. skald "skald, poet" (9c.), of unknown origin, perhaps from PIE base *sekw- "to say, utter." The modern word is an antiquarian revival. "Usually applied to Norwegian and Icelandic poets of the Viking period and down to c 1250, but often without any clear idea as to their function and the character of their work." [OED]
wood (adj.): "violently insane" (now obsolete), from O.E. wod "mad, frenzied," from P.Gmc. *woth- (cf. Goth. woþs "possessed, mad," O.H.G. wuot "mad, madness," Ger. wut "rage, fury"), from PIE *wet- "to blow, inspire, spiritually arouse;" source of L. vates "seer, poet," O.Ir. faith "poet;" "with a common element of mental excitement" [Buck]. Cf. O.E. woþ "sound, melody, song," and O.N. oðr "poetry," and the god-name Odin.
bard: mid-15c., from Scottish, from O.Celt. bardos "poet, singer," from PIE base *gwer- "to lift up the voice, praise." In historical times, a term of contempt among the Scots (who considered them itinerant troublemakers), but one of great respect among the Welsh.
"All vagabundis, fulis, bardis, scudlaris, and siclike idill pepill, sall be brint on the cheek." [local Scottish ordinance, c.1500]
Subsequently idealized by Scott in the more ancient sense of "lyric poet, singer." Poetic use of the word in English is from Gk. bardos, L. bardus, both from Gaulish. Bardolatry "worship of Shakespeare (the 'Bard of Avon')" first recorded 1901.
Morris: style of furniture, wallpaper, etc., 1880, in ref. to poet and craftsman William Morris (1834-96).
Ovid: Publius Ovidius Nasso, Roman poet (43 B.C.E.-17 C.E.).
Aeschylus: Gk. Aiskhylos, Athenian soldier, poet, and playwright, Father of Tragedy (525-456 B.C.E.).
Byronic: 1823, pertaining to or resembling British poet George Gordon, 6th Baron Byron (1788-1824).
Sturm und Drang: 1844, lit. "storm and stress," late 18c. Ger. romanticism period, is taken from the title of a 1776 romantic drama by Ger. poet Friedrich Maximilian von Klinger (1752-1831), who gave it this name at the suggestion of Christoph Kauffmann.
disjecta membra: "scattered remains" (especially literary), from Horace's L. phrase disjecti membra poetæ "limbs of a dismembered poet."
senryu: form of Japanese poetry, 1938, from name of Karai Senryu (1718-90), Japanese poet.
namby-pamby: 1726, satiric nickname of Eng. poet Ambrose Philips (1674-1749) mocking his sentimental pastorals addressed to infant members of the nobility. Used first in a farce credited to Carey; in general sense of "weakly sentimental, insipidly pretty" it is attested from 1745.
Pindaric: 1640, pertaining to or in the style of Pindar, from Gk. Pindaros, Gk. lyric poet (c.522-443 B.C.E.).
thespian (adj.): 1675, "of or pertaining to tragedy or dramatic acting," from Gk. Thespis, poet of 6c. B.C.E., the traditional father of Gk. tragedy. The names is lit. "inspired by the gods." The noun meaning "an actor" is attested from 1827, from the adj.; short form thesp is attested from 1962.
Indochina: 1886, from Indo-, comb. form of Gk. Indos "India" + China. Name proposed early 19c. by Scot. poet and orientalist John Leyden, who lived and worked in India from 1803 till his death at 35 in 1811.
Dante: masc. proper name, most modern uses outside Italy ultimately are in ref. to Dante Alighieri (c.1265–1321), the great poet; the name is a shortening of L. Durante, from durare "harden, endure."
Sophocles: Athenian tragic poet (c.496-406 B.C.E.), the name is Gk. Sophokles, lit. "famed for wisdom," from sophos "wise" + *-kles "fame" (see Damocles).
broaden: 1727, from broad + -en (1). The word seems no older than this date (discovered by Johnson in one of Thomson's season poems); broadened also is first found in the same poet, and pp. adj. broadening is recorded from 1850.
symbolism: 1654, "practice of representing things with symbols," from symbol. Attested from 1892 as a movement in Fr. literature that aimed at representing ideas and emotions by indirect suggestion rather than direct expression; rejecting realism and naturalism, it attached symbolic meaning to certain objects, words, etc. Fr. symboliste was coined by poet Paul Verlaine (1844-96) in 1885.
dada: 1920, from Fr. dada "hobbyhorse," child's nonsense word, selected 1916 by Romanian poet Tristan Tzara, leader of the movement, for its resemblance to meaningless babble.
"Freedom: DADA DADA DADA, the howl of clashing colors, the intertwining of all contradictions, grotesqueries, trivialities: LIFE." [T. Tzara, "Dada Manifesto," 1918]
cantor: 1538, "church song-leader," from L. cantor "singer, poet, actor," agent noun of canere "to sing" (see chant). Applied to the Hebrew chazan from 1893.
comedian: 1580s, "comic poet," later (c.1600) "stage actor in comedies," also, generally, "actor," from Fr. comédien, from L. *comoedianos, from comoedia (see comedy). Meaning "professional joke-teller, etc." is from 1898.
Spenserian: 1817, from Edmund Spenser (c.1552-1599), Elizabethan poet. Spenserian stanza, which he employed in the "Faerie Queen," consists of eight decasyllabic lines and a final Alexandrine, with rhyme scheme ab ab bc bcc. For the origin of the surname, see Spencer.
virgilian: 1513, from L. Virgilianus "of or characteristic of the Roman poet Virgil" (Publius Vergilius Maro, 70-19 B.C.E.). Also in Virgilian lots (L. sortes Virgilianæ), opening Virgil at random as an oracle.
dramaturgy: "composition and production of plays, 1801, from Fr. dramaturge (1688), introduced by poet Jean Chapelain (1595-1674), from Gk. dramatourgia, from drama (gen. dramatos) + ergos "worker."
futurism: 1909, from It. futurismo, coined 1909 by It. poet Filippo Tommaso Marinetti (1876-1944); see future + -ism. Futurist is attested from 1842, originally theological.
Horace: masc. proper name, from Fr., from L. Horatius, name of a Roman gens. The poet was Quintus Horatius Flaccus (65-8 B.C.E.). The form Horatio is infl. by the It. version of the name, Orazio.
tweedledum: paired with tweedledee to signify two things or persons nearly alike, differing in name, 1725, coined by Eng. poet John Byrom (1692-1767) in his satire "On the Feud Between Handel and Bononcini," a couple of competing musicians, from tweedle "to sing, to whistle" (1684), of imitative origin. The -dum and -dee perhaps suggest low and high sounds respectively.
Ophiuchus: constellation (representing Aesculapius), 1658, from L., from Gk. ophioukhos, lit. "holding a serpent," from ophis "serpent" + stem of ekhein "to hold, have, keep." The constellation is equatorial, and Milton's "Ophiuchus huge in th' Arctick Sky" ("Paradise Lost") is a rare lapse for a poet who generally knew his astronomy.
mahatma: 1884, lit. "great-souled," from Skt. mahatman, from maha "great" (see maharajah) + atman "breath, soul, principle of life." In esoteric Buddhism, "a person of supernatural powers." In common use, as a title, a mark of love and respect. Said to have been applied to Gandhi (1869-1948) in 1915 by poet Rabrindranath Tagore.
scold (n.): mid-12c., "person of ribald speech," also "person fond of abusive language," from O.N. skald "poet" (see skald). The sense evolution may reflect the fact that Gmc. poets (like their Celtic counterparts) were famously feared for their ability to lampoon and mock (e.g. skaldskapr "poetry," also, in Icelandic law books, "libel in verse"). From the beginning, used especially of women. The verb is attested from late 14c.
damnation: c.1300, "condemnation to Hell by God," also "fact of being condemned by judicial sentence," from Fr. damnation, from L. damnationem, noun of action from damnare. As an imprecation, attested from c.1600.
Damnation follows death in other men,
But your damn'd Poet lives and writes agen.
[Pope, letter to Henry Cromwell, 1707 or 1708]
umlaut: 1852, from Ger., "change of sound," from um "about" (see ambi-) + laut "sound," from O.H.G. hlut (see listen). Coined 1774 by poet Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock (1724-1803) but first used in its current sense 1819 by linguist Jakob Grimm (1785-1863).
basket: early 13c., from Anglo-Fr. bascat, from L. bascauda "kettle, table-vessel," origin obscure despite much speculation. Said by the Roman poet Martial to be from Celtic British and perhaps cognate with L. fascis "bundle, faggot," in which case it probably originally meant "wicker basket." But there is no evidence of such a word in Celtic unless later words in Irish and Welsh, counted as borrowings from English, are original.
poem: 1548 (replacing poesy, q.v.), from M.Fr. poème (14c.), from L. poema "verse, poetry," from Gk. poema "thing made or created, fiction, poetical work," from poein "to make or compose" (see poet).
Neanderthal: 1861, from Ger. Neanderthal "Neander Valley," gorge near Düsseldorf where humanoid fossils were identified in 1856. The place name is from the Graecized form of Joachim Neumann (lit. "new man," Gk. *neo-ander), 1650-1680, Ger. pastor, poet and hymn-writer, who made this a favorite spot in the 1670s. Adopting a classical form of one's surname was a common practice among educated Germans in this era.
leonine: late 14c., from L. leoninus "belonging to or resembling a lion," from leo (gen. leonis) "lion." Weekley thinks that Leonine verse (1658), rhymed in the middle as well as the end of the line, probably is from the name of some medieval poet, perhaps Leo, Canon of St. Victor, Paris, 12c.
prosopopeia: 1561, from Gk. prosopopoiia "the putting of speeches into the mouths of others," from prosopon "person, face" (lit. "that which is toward the eyes," from pros "to" + ops "eye, face") + poiein "make" (see poet). A rhetorical figure in which an imaginary or absent person is made to speak or act.
bluebird: 1680s, N.Amer. warbler-like bird, from blue in reference to its plumage + bird. Figurative use in bluebird of happiness is from 1909 play romance "l'Oiseau bleu," lit. "The Blue Bird," by Belgian dramatist and poet Maurice Maeterlinck (1862-1949).
onomatopoeia: 1577, from L.L., from Gk. onomatopoiia "the making of a name or word" (in imitation of a sound associated with the thing being named), from onomatopoios, from onoma (gen. onomatos) "word, name" (see name) + a derivative of poiein "compose, make" (see poet).
scoff (v.): c.1380, earlier as a noun, "contemptuous ridicule" (c.1300), from a Scand. source, cf. O.N. skaup, skop "mockery," M.Dan. skof "jest, mockery;" perhaps from P.Gmc. *skub-, *skuf- (cf. O.E. scop "poet," O.H.G. scoph "fiction, sport, jest, derision;" see scold), from PIE *skeub- "to shove."
Alexandrine: verse line, 1580s, said to be from O.Fr. Roman d'Alexandre, a poem about Alexander the Great that was popular in the Middle Ages, which used a 12-syllable line of 6 feet (the Fr. heroic verse); it was used in Eng. to vary the heroic verse of 5 feet. The name also sometimes is said to be from Alexandre de Paris, medieval Fr. poet, who used such a line (and who also wrote one of the popular Alexander the Great poems).
poesy: c.1300, from O.Fr. poesie, from V.L. poesia, from L. poesis "poetry," from Gk. poesis "composition, poetry," from poein "to make or compose" (see poet).
humanism: along with humanist used in a variety of philosophical and theological senses 16c.-18c., especially ones imitating L. humanitas "education befitting a cultivated man." Main modern sense traces to c.1860; as a pragmatic system of thought, defined 1907 by co-founder F.C.S. Schiller as: "The perception that the philosophical problem concerns human beings striving to comprehend a world of human experience by the resources of human minds." Humanist is from Fr. humaniste, from It. umanista, coined by It. poet Lodovicio Ariosto (1474-1533) "student of human affairs or human nature."
Edda: 1771, by some identified with the name of the old woman in the O.N. poem "Rigsþul," by others derived from O.N. oðr "spirit, mind, passion, song, poetry" (cognate with O.Ir. faith "poet," L. vates "seer, soothsayer;" see wood (adj.)). It is the name given to two Icelandic books, the first a miscellany of poetry, mythology, and grammar by Snorri Sturluson (d.1241), since 1642 called the Younger or Prose Edda; and a c.1200 collection of ancient Gmc. poetry and religious tales, called the Elder or Poetic Edda.
vaudeville: 1739, "light, popular song," especially one sung on the stage, from Fr. vaudeville, alteration (by influence of ville "town") of M.Fr. vaudevire, said to be from (chanson du) Vau de Vire "(song of the) valley of Vire," in the Calvados region of Normandy, first applied to the popular satirical songs of Olivier Basselin, a 15c. poet who lived in Vire. The other alternative is that vaudevire derives from M.Fr. dialectal vauder "to go" + virer "to turn." The meaning "theatrical entertainment interspersed with songs" first recorded 1827. Vaudevillian (n.) is attested from 1913.