Where does “nonfiction” come from?
Nonfiction derives from English fiction, Latin nōna (ninth), Latin nōnus (ninth), Latin novem (nine), Latin -tiō (suffix forming abstract nouns), English nine, Latin novem (nine), and Proto-Indo-European new- (new).
nonfiction (English): Written works intended to give facts, or true...
Definitions
- Written works intended to give facts, or true...
Ancestry of “nonfiction”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | fiction | Literary type using invented or imaginative... |
| 2 | Middle English | ficcioun | An invention or fabrication |
| 3 | Old French | ficcion | dissimulation, ruse, invention |
| 4 | Latin | fictio | fashioning, forming, formation; fiction |
| 5 | Latin | -tiō | tion, -ation, -ing |
| 6 | Latin | dissertātiō | (spoken) dissertation, discourse, disquisition |
| 7 | Latin | dissertus | arranged, disposed; explained |
| 8 | Latin | disserere | second-person singular future passive indicative... |
| 9 | Latin | dis- | asunder, apart, in two; reversal, removal;... |
| 10 | Latin | calceus | shoe |
| 11 | Latin | calx | limestone; chalk; the finish line |
| 12 | Ancient Greek | χάλιξ | small stone, pebble; gravel, rubble |