Words & WritingGreek → English
Onomatopoeia
/ˌɑːnəˌmætəˈpiːə/noun
The formation of a word that imitates the sound it names.
The Greek roots
ὄνομα
ónoma
name, word
ποιέω
poiéō
to make
Literally: “name-making”
The story of the word
For Greek grammarians ὀνοματοποιία meant coining a new word by any means; the narrow modern sense of sound-imitation came with the English adoption in the 1570s. Which sounds count is a local matter. A Greek dog said βαῦ βαῦ, a Greek sheep βῆ βῆ, and Aristophanes gave his chorus of frogs βρεκεκεκὲξ κοὰξ κοάξ.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → English
- First recorded
- 1570s
Same family
onomasticpseudonympoetpharmacopoeia
In a sentence
The whole poem runs on onomatopoeia: hiss, clatter, thud, and then nothing.