English
monologue
Monologue comes from Middle French monologue ‘soliloquy’, from Ancient Greek λόγος ‘that which is said: word, sentence, speech,…’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *leǵ- ‘to gather, collect, with derivatives meaning…’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*leǵ-‘to gather, collect, with derivatives meaning to speak by carefully selecting one's words’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*lóǵosreconstructed
- Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*lógosreconstructed
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEλόγοςlógos‘that which is said: word, sentence, speech, story, debate, utterance, argument’
- Byzantine Greekc. 600–1453μονόλογοςmonólogos
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600monologue‘soliloquy’
- Englishearliest quotation 1989monologue
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*leǵ-‘to gather, collect, with derivatives meaning to speak by carefully selecting one's words’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*lóǵosreconstructed
- Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*lógosreconstructed
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEλόγοςlógos‘that which is said: word, sentence, speech, story, debate, utterance, argument’
- Byzantine Greekc. 600–1453μονόλογοςmonólogos
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600monologue‘soliloquy’
- Englishearliest quotation 1989monologue
Earliest quotation: 1989, Oliver Sacks: “Powerful parents, in her formulation, feeling themselves autonomous and…”
Equivalent to mono- + -logue
Proto-Indo-European *men-
Proto-Hellenic *mónwos
Ancient Greek μόνος ‘alone, only, sole, single’
English mono-
first attested First attested in c. 1550 (as stated in the etymology)
The story
First attested in c. 1550.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *leǵ- ‘to gather, collect, with derivatives meaning…’
election, collection, technology, select, elite, eligible, lesson, collect, elect, elegant, coil, legion, negligence, negligible, negligent, catalogue, leach, diligent, lexical, cull, astrology, lexicon, dialectic, alexia, epilogue, lignite, lexis, lignin, legation, gynecologist, cosmology, ineligibility, dialogic, 151 more
through Proto-Hellenic *lógos
archaeological, pathological, astrological, etymology, pathophysiology, homologous, psychopathology, neurophysiology, histopathology, bacteriological, 102 more
through Ancient Greek λόγος ‘that which is said: word, sentence, speech,…’
logic, apology, trilogy, analogy, sociology, physiology, terminology, logos, pathology, logistic, archaeologist, pathologist, eulogy, prologue, epistemology, entomology, etiology, bacteriology, apologia, syllogism, bacteriologist, 111 more
Today it means
noun A long speech by one person in a play; sometimes a soliloquy; other times spoken to other characters.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *leǵ- / monologue