English
poem
Poem comes from Ancient Greek ποίημα ‘a poem’, from ποιέω ‘to make’, and ultimately from Proto-Hellenic *kʷoiwéyō.
- Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*kʷoiwéyō‘to make’reconstructed
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEποιέωpoiéō‘to make’
- Ancient Greek, derivedc. 800–300 BCEποίημαpoíēma‘a poem’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpoēma
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600poème
- Englishearliest quotation 2013poem
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*kʷoiwéyō‘to make’reconstructed
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEποιέωpoiéō‘to make’
- Ancient Greek, derivedc. 800–300 BCEποίημαpoíēma‘a poem’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpoēma
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600poème
- Englishearliest quotation 2013poem
Earliest quotation: 2013, -August, Ode to Prime Numbers: “Some poems, echoing the purpose of early poetic treatises…”
The story
Widely displaced English leed.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *kʷey- ‘to pile, stow, gather’
pain, penalty, punishment, pine, punish, titanium, penal, punitive, impunity, whey, subpoena, 21 more
through Proto-Hellenic *kʷoiwéyō ‘to make’
through Ancient Greek ποιέω ‘to make’
Today it means
noun A literary piece written in verse.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Hellenic *kʷoiwéyō / poem