literature (n.)
early 15c., litterature, "book-learning," from Latin literatura/litteratura "learning, a writing, grammar," originally "writing formed with letters," from litera/littera "alphabetic letter" also "an epistle, writing, document; literature, great books; science, learning" (see letter (n.1)).
In English originally "book learning" (in which sense it replaced Old English boccræft); the meaning "activity of a writer, the profession of a literary writer" is attested by 1779 in Johnson's "Lives of the English Poets;" that of "literary productions as a whole, body of writings from a period or people" is by 1812.
Great literature is simply language charged with meaning to the utmost possible degree. [Ezra Pound, "ABC of Reading"]
Saintsbury ("Elizabethan Literature," 1893) defines it as "a system of treating all subjects in the vernacular according to methods more or less decidedly arranged and accepted by a considerable tradition of skilled craftsmen."
The meaning "the whole of the writing on a particular subject" is by 1860; the sense of "printed matter generally" is from 1895. The Latin word also is the source of Spanish literatura, Italian letteratura, German Literatur.
Trends of literature
updated on April 08, 2024
