English
romantic
Romantic is either romant + -ic or borrowed from Late Latin romanticus ‘having qualities of a romance’.
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CEromanticus‘having qualities of a romance’uncertain
- Englishearliest quotation 1851romantic
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CEromanticus‘having qualities of a romance’uncertain
- Englishearliest quotation 1851romantic
Earliest quotation: 1851, Herman Melville, The Whale: “But here is an artist. He desires to paint…”
Formed from romant + -ic
The story
Also compare Spanish romántico, Portuguese romântico, Italian romantico, Dutch romantisch, and German romantisch and Romantiker (‘a composer of Romantic music’), all of which are borrowed from English or French.
Every English word from Late Latin romanticus
Today it means
adj Of a work of literature, a writer etc.: being like or having the characteristics of a romance, or poetic tale of a mythic or quasi-historical time; fantastic.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Late Latin romanticus / romantic