onomatopoeia (n.)
"formation of words or names by imitation of natural sounds; the naming of something by a reproduction of the sound made by it or a sound associated with it," 1570s, from Late Latin onomatopoeia, from Greek onomatopoiia "the making of a name or word" (in imitation of a sound associated with the thing being named), from onomatopoios, from onoma (genitive onomatos) "word, name" (from PIE root *no-men- "name") + a derivative of poiein "compose, make" (see poet).
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"one endowed with the gift and power of imaginative invention and creation, attended by corresponding eloquence of expression, commonly but not necessarily in a metrical form" [Century Dictionary, 1895], early 14c., "a poet, an author of metrical compositions; one skilled in the art of making poetry; a singer" (c. 1200 as a surname), from Old French poete (12c., Modern French poète) and directly from Latin poeta "a poet," from Greek poētēs "maker, author, poet," variant of poiētēs, from poein, poiein "to make, create, compose."
This is reconstructed [Watkins] to be from PIE *kwoiwo- "making," from root *kwei- "to pile up, build, make" (source also of Sanskrit cinoti "heaping up, piling up," Old Church Slavonic činu "act, deed, order").
A POET is as much to say as a maker. And our English name well comformes with the Greeke word : for of [poiein] to make, they call a maker Poeta. [Puttenham, "Arte of English Poesie," 1589]
It isn't what [a poet] says that counts as a work of art, it's what he makes, with such intensity of perception that it lives with an intrinsic movement of its own to verify its authenticity. [William Carlos Williams, 1944]
It replaced Old English scop (which survives in scoff). It was used in 14c., as in classical languages, in reference to all writers or composers of works of literature. In 16c.-17c. often Englished as maker.
Poète maudit, "a poet insufficiently appreciated by his contemporaries," literally "cursed poet," is attested by 1930, from French (1884, Verlaine). For poet laureate see laureate.
"pertaining to, characterized by, or of the nature of onomatopoeia," 1835, from French onomatopoéique or else from onomatopoeia + -ic. Other adjectival forms include onomatopoeial; onomatopoetic (1827); onomatopoeous (1660s).
Proto-Indo-European root meaning "name."
It forms all or part of: acronym; allonym; ananym; anonymous; antonomasia; antonym; binomial; caconym; cognomen; denominate; eponym; eponymous; heteronym; homonym; homonymous; hyponymy; ignominious; ignominy; innominable; Jerome; matronymic; metonymy; metronymic; misnomer; moniker; name; nomenclature; nominal; nominate; noun; onomastic; onomatopoeia; paronomasia; paronym; patronym; patronymic; praenomen; pronoun; pseudonym; renown; synonym; synonymy; synonymous; toponym.
It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit nama; Avestan nama; Greek onoma, onyma; Latin nomen; Old Church Slavonic ime, genitive imene; Russian imya; Old Irish ainm; Old Welsh anu "name;" Old English nama, noma, Old High German namo, Old Norse nafn, Gothic namo "name."
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