literary | Search Online Etymology Dictionary

196 entries found.

1640s, "pertaining to alphabet letters," from French littéraire, from Latin literarius/litterarius "belonging to letters or learning," from littera/litera "alphabetic letter" (see letter (n.1)). Meaning "pertaining to literature" is attested from 1737. Related: Literariness.

anti-hero (n.)

also antihero; 1714, "opposite of a hero, a villain," from anti- + hero. Sense of "a literary hero who lacks the usual qualities associated with a literary hero" is by 1859.

Athenaeum (n.)

1727, "temple dedicated to Athena," from Latinized form of Greek Athenaion "the temple of Athene," in ancient Athens, in which professors taught and actors or poets rehearsed. Meaning "literary club-room or reading room" is from 1799; sense of "literary or scientific club" is from 1807. These senses are based on the institutions founded by Hadrian at Rome and elsewhere dedicated to literary and scientific studies.

thar

now representing dialectal pronunciation of there; in literary use in Middle English.

unabridged (adj.)

1590s, from un- (1) "not" + past participle of abridge (v.). Since 19c. chiefly in reference to literary works.

intertextuality (n.)

by 1974 in literary criticism, from inter- "between" + textual + -ity. Related: Intertextual (1879).

grimy (adj.)

1610s, from grime + -y (2). "App[arently] not in literary use during the 18th c." [OED]. Related: Griminess.

exegete (n.)

"one who expounds or interprets a literary production," 1730s, from Greek exegetes "an expounder, interpreter" (especially of the Bible), from exegeisthai (see exegesis).

foreword (n.)

"introduction to a literary work," 1842, from fore- + word (n.); perhaps a loan-translation of German Vorwort "preface," modeled on Latin praefatio "preface."

disjecta membra (n.)

"scattered remains" (especially literary), from Horace's Latin phrase disjecti membra poetae "limbs of a dismembered poet." From neuter plural of disiectus + plural of membrum.

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